Subtle Grammatical Usage Notes

aka Common mistakes when writing scientific papers and grants.

Usage

  • Alternate / Alternative
    Alternate means "every other one" in a series. Alternative means "another option". (REL)
  • Bacteriophage / Bacteriophages
    Even though it sounds strange, the plural of bacteriophage is really bacteriophages.
  • By Contrast / In Contrast
    Use By contrast when the next word is a noun. Use In contrast when followed by a preposition such as "with" or "to". (REL)
  • Complimentary / Complementary
    Complimentary means praising or free of charge. Two things are complementary when they combine in a way that enhances each other's qualities or if they are nucleic acid bases that pair with each other. Thus, "complementary base", "complementary skills", "complimentary comments".
  • This Data / These Data
    Use this data when you can replace "data" with "information". Use these data when you can replace "data" with "facts". (source)
  • Principle / Principal
    Principle means the fundamental basis of a fact. A Principal is the main player or the person of most importance in a project. Thus, "proof of principle", "principal investigator", "in principle", "the principle reason", "school principal".
  • Regardless / Irregardless
    Regardless is correct. Irregardless is a commonly heard but incorrect term, probably originating due to similar word pairs like respective / irrespective.
  • Where / Wherein
    Use wherein when you can replace with "in which" or "in what".

Punctuation

  • Generally the best way to use Greek letters, etc., is to use the "Insert symbol" command in a program (like Word or Illustrator), rather than symbol font. This generally causes fewer problems across programs or platforms.
  • Hyphen, en dash, em dash
  • Prime symbol versus single quote: 5′ not 5' end of a DNA sequence.
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Contributors to this topic Edit topic JeffreyBarrick
Topic revision: r8 - 2012-06-28 - 13:59:25 - Main.JeffreyBarrick
 
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