Professional terminology for telling someone that their writing is not good?

Question

I am a reviewer for an academic journal. I often find myself in the position of needing to decline a submission because the writing is just not good, but I struggle to find the correct words for describing this to the author. For example, it might be immediately apparent (first two paragraphs) that the writing does not meet an acceptable standard, so I'm not going to waste my time reading the rest of paper but I also want to provide the author with some constructive criticism. I find myself saying things like, "this paper needs further editorial attention to address grammatical and syntactical errors." Any other suggestions?

Answer 1

"this paper needs further editorial attention to address grammatical and syntactical errors."

There's nothing wrong per se with this sentence. However, a possible second sentence could include a specific suggestion to improve the writer's performance, if it is your desire to proffer such instruction. Something such as, "A dependent clause is always set off with a comma," is an example. Or, "Use of passive voice throughout is standard." Etc.