“Traditional work on constraints” is the typical scientific text, firstly, because it is aimed at providing deep insights into the specific term (metaphor), secondly, its language tends to be objective, unemotional, precise, etc and, furthermore, it corresponds to some other features of scientific text, disclosed below. 

The sample is devoted to the development of the theory of metaphor and looks at the question of what makes a metaphor conceptually fit from all angles. But what makes this text scientific?

In the first place – lexis. Literature terms abound in the article: metaphors, symbols, allegories. We can also see a number of clichés typical of any scientific article: “consider that”, “the problem of … was raised”, “that results in” and some scientific terms “domain”, “metaphoric language”, “system of implication”.

In the second place – syntax. Most sentences are compound: “Considering that the problem of fitness was raised by Aristotle and that the theory of metaphor in thought and language has in many ways been a series of responses to and developments of Aristotle’s few comments on metaphor, it is odd how little inquiry has been made into the actual details of what makes a metaphor conceptually fit”.

Passive constructions are often used: “is constrained”, “was raised”, etc.

The sequence of paragraphs in the text and sentences in paragraphs is logical and has a clear indication of their interrelations and interdependence.

The first paragraph is introductory and describes the first attempt to develop the knowledge of metaphor. In the second paragraph Mark Turner tries to disclose the relevance of the theory of metaphor and says that too little research on that issue has been made. And, finally, in the last paragraph the author gives blanket characterizations and self-contained case studies on metaphor. They consist of postulatory sentences, argumentative sentences – the quotations, and formulative sentences – the author’s comments on the quotations.

Another feature of the article that strikes the eye of the reader is the use of quotations and references. They have a definite compositional pattern: the name of the writer referred to, the year it was published, the page of the excerpt quoted or referred to: “Nelson Goodman (1974: 73)”.

In the conclusion we should say that the author managed to prove the relevance of the subject and tried to direct further studies of metaphor in the right way.