"specifically" vs "particularly" vs "concretely"

Question

In my publication text I wrote

The goal of this work is DAC, which can analyze data that could not be processed before, specifically incomplete data.

I had the paper corrected by a professional proofreader and was told to write

The goal of this work is DAC, which can analyze data that could not be processed before, particularly incomplete data.

However, "incomplete data" is the only kind of "data that could not be processed before". And as far as I understand "particularly" is more like "I include all or at least a lot of types of data that could not be processed before, but I discuss incomplete data more than the other types".

So I wrote

The goal of this work is DAC, which can analyze data that could not be processed before, concretely incomplete data.

Now, another professional proofreader told me I should replace concretely and write specifically instead.

Now I am confused. What are the different meanings of those three words and why were they corrected "back and forth"?

Answer 1

However, "incomplete data" is the only kind of "data that could not be processed before". And as far as I understand "particularly" is more like "I include all or at least a lot of types of data that could not be processed before, but I discuss incomplete data more than the other types".

If this is what you meant, then your original text was correct and the original proofreader either misunderstood your intent, or made a language error. If "incomplete data" is the only kind of data that could not be processed before, then I would state very concretely ( 😉 ) that "specifically" is the correct word, and "particularly" is wrong, and misleading.

"Concretely" is a bit trickier to use, but I think this post is quite useful, particularly the first comment to the original question, which refers to the specific examples given and states concretely which of them sounds acceptable.

Use of "concretely" for "specifically"