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Flashing lights and camera lenses may put the judge, who must always be of sound mind, off his stride and hence affect his judgments.

There are idioms that can be used for academic writing, and there are those that cannot. How can I tell if an idiom, e.g. put somebody off their stride, is suitable for it? Thank you in advance.

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    How do you do it in your native language. How do know which idioms are suitable for academic writing in you own language?
    – James K
    Commented Aug 2 at 5:21
  • I'm not quite sure, but maybe when that idiom doesn't sound so informal and metaphorical? I can base my judgment on the metaphor to a certain extent, but formality is quite challenging for non-native speakers to evaluate.
    – An IELTS Learner
    Commented Aug 2 at 7:48
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    Exactly. So the answer to you question is "Get better at English". No there isn't a short cut. There isn't a simple rule. Some papers use more of such idioms, so it mostly a matter of the individual author's style.
    – James K
    Commented Aug 3 at 6:31

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Be of sound mind doesn’t sound great; have a clear mind should be better.

The relative clause splits the idiom and makes the sentence harder to read. We could consider forming a separate clause at the back:

Flashing lights and camera lenses may put the judge off his stride and hence affect his judgments; the judge must always have a clear mind.

As some idioms have meanings quite different from what a person may derive from the individual words, I won’t use too many of them in academic writing.

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    To me, 'be of sound mind' means 'not lack decision making capacity due to mental deficiency or illness' and 'have a clear mind' means 'not be preoccupied, confused or distracted'.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 2 at 6:01
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    So if I can't guess the meaning of an idiom based on the individual words, there's a high chance that it isn't suitable for academic writing?
    – An IELTS Learner
    Commented Aug 2 at 7:50
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    @An IELTS Learner, I’m not sure whether idioms are good or bad in formal writing. I can’t guess the response of the readers and hence won’t want to risk overusing them.
    – Seowjooheng Singapore
    Commented Aug 2 at 8:10
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    @AnIELTSLearner - that's the main meaning of 'idiom' - a group of words in a fixed order that has a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word on its own
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 2 at 8:36
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    In British English, 'of sound mind' is mostly confined to someone's last will and testament, which will often start 'Being of sound mind...' The legal definition is “An understanding of one’s actions and a reasonable knowledge of one's family, possessions and their surroundings.” In other words they know what they are doing (leaving money, property etc in their will), they know who they are giving it to (definition says 'family' but this could apply to friends, charities etc), they know what they are giving and can perceive the world around them and are able to make a rational judgement.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 2 at 8:43

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