Learn English – Usage: deepen, broaden, expand, and extend

word-usage

I am wondering which of the following sentences is more often used in English:

  1. The recent studies are deepened by investigating new problems.
  2. The recent studies are broadened by adding new problems.
  3. The recent studies are extended to include new problems.
  4. The recent studies are expanded to cover new problems.

In these sentences, the second verb and the preceding preposition can be changed; however, it should be chosen in such a way that the sentence is proper and readable.

Thanks for your help.

Best Answer

First, I'm slightly uncomfortable with all of these options: "The recent studies are [changed] by [tackling] new problems". Well, no. The recent studies are what they are, and tackling new problems will not change them. I suppose it could be argued that the new work will enter the corpus of "recent studies", and hence change that corpus, but this is an unusual way to present new work. Unfortunately, I'm struggling to find a better framework without more context. Maybe something like: "This technique has been extended/broadened/etc by...".

As John Lawler has pointed out in comments, the different verbs have different meanings. So, "deepened" might be appropriate if the new problems are very similar to the previous problems, but somehow more difficult or intricate. "Broadened" is probably more common, when the new problems are related to the previous ones, and perhaps of similar difficulty, but with new aspects. "Extended" is similar to "broadened", but gives more of an air of progress into new territory. "Expanded" is also similar, but gives an air of making the technique more general.

If I had to pick one, I would probably choose "extended". ("Expanded" would be a close contender if the original technique was highly specialised and the new work helped to make it more general.) This is mainly personal preference, and also dependent on the nature of these new studies, so I have no references to cite. I have not attempted to answer the question of which is more common. You could try Google Ngram for that.

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