Medical Style

1
Medical Style

• C507
• Scientific Writing
• Session 10

2
Definition of Style

• The word Style, when applied to writing,
  pertains not only to writing style but also to
  the basic organization of a scientific paper or
  other publication, the editorial style of the
  journal or publisher, and the typographical style
  of the publisher or printer

3
Science Writing is Distinctive

• In 2 different ways
• First, it should be simple and clear clarity is
  the essential goal
• Gettysburg Address- 267 words total, 196 of which
  were one syllable
• Second, organization is important
• Each paper type organized in the same way

4
General Advice on Style

• Use the first person (I or we) for describing
  what you
• Use the active voice in preference to the passive
  voice
• X crossed the membrane, instead of
• The membrane was crossed by X.

5
General Advice on Style

• Use the past tense for observations, completed
  actions and specific conclusions
• Use the present tense for generalizations and
  statements of general validity

6
General Advice on Style

• Avoid gobbledygook jargon and other pompous
  use of long words, circumlocution and other
  linguistic flatulence.
• Specialist jargon is at times necessary but is
  easily overdone, ie, the listing terminology of
  Gonstead technique, which is to me goobledygook
  but is clear to those in the know

7
General Advice on Style

• If you are an ESL author, dont apply the same
  principles of style when you write in English as
  are used in your language

8
Problems of Grammar and Style

• There are 4 principles one can use for solving
  problems of style (Woodford 1968)
• Be simple and concise
• Make sure of the meaning of every word
• Use verbs instead of abstract nouns
• Break up noun clusters and stacked modifiers

9
Grammar!

• Parallelism- this refers to the logical
  construction of sentences
• For example First, we must run hard. Secondly,
  we must run fast.

10
Agreement of Subject and Verbs

• Singular subjects take singular verbs and plural
  subjects take plural verbs
• Usually, most verbs have a form, ending in s,
  that goes with singular subjects
• She runs.
• They have another form, without the s, that
  goes with plural subjects
• They run.

11
Agreement of Subject and Verbs

• The rule is not rigid
• A series of experiments (was, were) performed
• A number of experiments (was, were performed)
• Both appear singular, but in the first, the word
  series refers to a group of experiments so the
  singular verb would be used was
• In the second, number appears singular but is
  certainly more than one and so we use the plural
  form were

12
Agreement of Subject and Verbs

• Another example
• A bunch of grapes (is, are) on the table
• A bunch of apples (is, are) on the table
• Grapes come in bunches, a connected group, so is
  singular is
• Apples grow as singles, so a bunch of them is
  plural are

13
Split Infinitives

• An infinitive verb form with an element, usually
  an adverb, interposed between to and the verb
  form, as in to boldly go
• These can be used in moderation, and at times it
  is hard to rewrite and make the new sentence keep
  the sense of the old

14
Split Infinitives

• For Example I fail to completely understand
  rigid rules is a split infinitive, but try to
  rewrite
• I fail completely to understand rigid rules
• I fail to understand completely rigid rules
• I fail to understand rigid rules completely

15
Double Negatives

• Dont use no double negatives! Usually
• Aint nobody around here who knows nuthin about
  nuthin nohow is perfectly clear
• And we know what we mean when we say I aint
  got no money
• But this can sometimes be hidden

16
Syntax

• This is the branch of grammar dealing with word
  order
• I knew a man with a wooden leg named George
• He was the leader of a political party that said
  he could best handle the coming chaos under his
  leadership

17
The Fundamental Principle of Syntax

• Modifiers should be as close as possible to the
  words, phrases, or clauses they modify
• This is logical if words relate to one another,
  they should be close to one another

18
The Fundamental Principle of Syntax

• When we forget the rule, we will dangle
  participles
• While having lunch, the reaction mixture
  exploded.
• In analyzing the data statistically, the S.
  typhimurium infections were indeed rare.
• These mistakes abound in scientific publication

19
The Fundamental Principle of Syntax

• Single words, usually adverbs, can cause problems
  if the writer is careless about where such words
  are inserted in the sentence. Consider
• Only I hit him in the eye yesterday
• I only hit him in the eye yesterday
• I hit only him in the eye yesterday
• I hit him only in the eye yesterday
• Etc. and see how the meaning changes?

20
The Fundamental Principle of Syntax

• Not only is only a word to watch, so is just
• Just today we visited my aunt
• Today just we visited my aunt
• Today we just visited my aunt
• Today we visited just my aunt
• Today we visited my just aunt

21
The Fundamental Principle of Syntax

• There is 1000 difference between
• I almost wrote a check for 1000
• I wrote a check for almost 1000

22
The Fundamental Principle of Syntax

• So, do we really need to pay attention to syntax?
• I went to a town that was 20 miles away on Tuesday

23
Theres the Rub

• Try not to start a sentence with the word there
• There is nothing wrong with starting a sentence
  with the word there oops!
• Nothing is wrong with a sentence beginning with
  there

24
Words

• Long words name little things. All big things
  have little names, such as life and death, peace
  and war, or dawn, day night, love, home. Learn to
  use little words in a big way. It is hard to do.
  But they say what you mean. When you dont know
  what you mean, use big words. They often fool
  little people.

25
Words

• English is a wonderful language, where many words
  can be used with great precision. Some words have
  unique meaning, but others are more nebulous.
• Usually we choose among words that are
  essentially synonymous- and when doing so- choose
  the common or short word

26
Choice of Words

• Here are examples of the daunting nature of
  English
• Over sight- may mean responsibility or lack of it
• Valuable and invaluable mean the same thing
• A reckless driver is not likely to be a wreckless
  driver
• In spite of the oddities, we can use English
  reasonably if we use the short word, the known
  word, the word with certain meaning

27
Choice of Words

• When we were in high school we were likely taught
  to vary words for the sake of variety. This is
  fine for literary writing.
• In science, this is not fine. Every variation can
  be confusing, and even more so to those
  non-natives who are struggling with English

28
Metaphors

• Use them sparingly
• We risk losing comprehension of our readers when
  we use words in other than their literal meanings
• Non-native speakers may have no clue what we mean
• If used, dont mix metaphors

29
Metaphors

• Examples of mixed metaphors
• There are a lot of shaky knees with clay feet on
  thin ice
• If this thing starts to snowball, it will catch
  fire anywhere
• If Lincoln were alive today, hed roll over in
  his grave- Gerald Ford

30
The Parts of Speech

• The taxonomy of English words is relatively
  simple for our half million English words
• There are really nine taxonomic pigeonholes
• Nouns Pronouns
• Verbs Adjectives
• Adverbs Conjunctions
• Prepositions Interjections
• Articles

31
Nouns

• A noun is a word for a person, place, thing or
  ideausually
• Because, there are always exceptions to every
  rule when it comes to grammar, so remember this
  for every kind of word

32
Types of Nouns

• There are 2 types of nouns
• Proper- includes specific persons (Robert
  Rowell), places (Davenport), things (Palmer
  Center) and ideas (Rationalism)
• Common- is any noun except a proper noun

33
Two Useful Rules

• Proper nouns are virtually always capitalized,
  whereas common nouns are not
• Proper nouns, being specific, are usually
  singular common nouns may be either singular or
  plural
• Derivatives of proper nouns are also capitalized,
  ie. American, from America

34
Two Useful Rules

• This distinction is important in science, for
  reasons not so apparent
• Generic names versus proprietary names
• Doxycycline/tetracycline
• Makers of machine versus machines
• Xerox/photocopier
• Scientific names of organisms versus vernacular
  names
• Streptococcus/streptococci

35
Common Nouns

• Can be Concrete those persons, places or things
  we can detect with our senses
• Can be Abstract nouns, usually ideas or
  concepts, not directly detected by our senses
• This is not a problem in scientific writing

36
Collective and Mass Nouns

• Collective noun indicates a group or collection
  of persons, places, things, or qualities
• Examples are audience, committee, personnel,
  army, class
• The general rule is that such nouns are plural in
  meaning but singular in form
• The audience is restless
• The couple owns a a condominium

37
Collective and Mass Nouns

• The rule often breaks down. Whenever the
  individuality of the members of a group is
  emphasized, the plural form of the verb is used
• The couple do not live together
• The committee of scientists were from several
  scientific disciplines

38
Collective and Mass Nouns

• The best rule for handling collective nouns is to
  decide whether the meaning is singular or plural
• Which is correct
• A total of 48 petri dishes were in the autoclave
• A total of 48 petri dishes was in the autoclave

39
Collective and Mass Nouns

• Another collective noun that creates problems is
  number
• A number of test tubes is on the table?
• A number of test tubes are on the table?
• The second is correct, since it is tubes that are
  plural here
• But, the number of test tubes on the table is
  four is correct

40
Collective and Mass Nouns

• Mass noun a concrete noun that represents a mass
  rather than countable units.
• Mass nouns are singular many do not have plurals
  (ie, air, water, wheat)

41
Collective and Mass Nouns

• One of the most common grammatical errors is the
  misuse of the mass noun amount in place of the
  word number
• An amount of people is poor grammar because
  people are countable individuals

42
Collective and Mass Nouns

• A related problem is the choice between fewer
  and less
• We use less to modify nouns that cant be
  counted This beer has less taste
• We use fewer to modify a noun with countable
  units This beer has fewer calories

43
Functions of Nouns

• Nouns usually do something or something is done
  to them
• A noun that does something is the subject of the
  sentence
• If something is done to the noun, it is the
  object of a verb or preposition (a word used to
  relate a noun or a pronoun to some other part of
  the sentence)
• John hit the ball
• John hit the nail on the head

44
Functions of Nouns

• In some sentences, nouns dont do anything nor is
  anything done to them
• Such sentences usually present definitions or
  characteristics of these nouns.
• Typically these sentences contain some form of
  the linking verb to be
• Penicillin is an antibiotic
• Scientists are nice people

45
Pronouns

• A pronoun is a word used to replace a noun the
  noun that the pronoun replaces is called the
  antecedent
• Pronouns can be tricky since there are 6 types of
  them and they have different forms
• Personal
• Demonstrative
• Relative
• Interrogative
• Indefinite
• Reflexive

46
Pronouns

• The antecedent of a pronoun must agree in number
  with the pronoun, ie, a singular pronoun must
  have a singular antecedent
• If a pitcher wins 20 games, will their value to
  the team increase?
• I see this frequently with the use of he/her or
  the patient and their in scientific writing

47
Pronouns

• Make sure that the antecedents of your pronouns
  are clear
• When Lady Carruthers smashed the traditional
  bottle of champagne against the hull of the ship,
  she slipped down the runway, gained speed,
  rocketed into the water with a gigantic spray,
  and continued unchecked toward Prince Island.

48
Personal Pronouns

• A personal pronoun replaces a person noun.
• The form of the noun changes depending on whether
  the pronoun is used as a subject, an object, or a
  possessive

49
Personal Pronouns

• The personal pronouns are
• I, me, my, mine
• You, your, yours
• He, him, his
• She, her, hers
• It, its
• We, us our, ours
• They, them their, theirs

50
Personal Pronouns

• You are wise to examine each pronoun to make sure
  it has an appropriate antecedent
• No one yet had demonstrated the structure of the
  human kidney, Vesalius having examined them only
  in dogs

51
Personal Pronouns

• There are BIG problems with the use of it, its,
  and its
• The word its is a contraction of it is and
  this contraction is often mixed up with the
  possessive pronoun its
• Wrong Its fur is fuzzy
• Right Its fur is fuzzy
• Wrong Its not good science
• Right Its not good science

52
Personal Pronouns

• And more ITS problems
• A dog knows its master
• A dog knows its master
• Dont choose the wrong its
• The problem is, the antecedent is often not
  clear it can often stand in for virtually any
  noun
• It is alright to give raw milk to your baby, but
  first boil it

53
Personal Pronouns

• You can often see the same kind of problem with
  the word most
• He stole seven bicycles from neighborhood kids.
  Most were later found in pieces.

54
Demonstrative Pronouns

• Demonstrative pronouns single out the thing
  referred to.
• These are ubiquitous in English writing (and
  here, These is the demonstrative pronoun, the
  antecedent being demonstrative pronouns.)

55
Demonstrative Pronouns

• There are only 4 demonstrative pronouns
• THIS is my day
• THAT is a crock
• THESE wont do
• THOSE are okay
• (And these can also be adjectives as well, ie,
  These four words

56
Relative Pronouns

• Relative pronouns substitute for nouns and
  connect parts of sentences
• The common relative pronouns are
• Who Whatever
• Whom Whoever
• Which Whomever
• Whose
• That
• What

57
Relative Pronouns

• Example
• The laboratory director, whose office was on the
  second floor, was responsible for all research
  activities.

58
Relative Pronouns

• Note that the word that can be either a
  demonstrative pronoun or a relative pronoun
• As a relative pronoun, that is often confused
  with who. Properly, who should be used to replace
  people, and that should be used to replace
  animals or objects
• The man who came to dinner did not eat rice
• I saw the cat that chased the rat

59
Relative Pronouns

• The word that can also be a conjunction, which
  then leads to the endless that-which argument

60
Interrogative Pronouns

• These are essentially the same as relative
  pronouns except that interrogative pronouns ask
  questions. Their purpose is to introduce
  questions
• Who goes there?
• What has happened?
• Common ones are who, whom, which, whose and what

61
Indefinite Pronouns

• Some pronouns are indefinite, in that they
  replace nouns but not a particular person, place
  or thing.
• Examples are all, another, any, anyone,
  anything, both, each, either, everybody, few,
  many, most, much, neither, nobody, none, several,
  some and such
• Anyone can be lucky, but few succeed

62
Reflexive Pronouns

• The least-used type of pronoun, and often misused
• Correctly used, a reflexive pronoun reflects the
  action of a verb back on the subject
• Common ones are myself, yourself, herself,
  themselves, etc.
• I hit myself

63
Reflexive Pronouns

• It is incorrect to use a reflexive pronoun either
  as a subject or as the object of a preposition
• Wrong John and myself will go home
• Right John and I will go home
• Wrong He hit John and muself
• Right He hit John and me

64
Reflexive Pronouns

• Reflexive pronouns are sometimes used as
  intensives, words used to intensify meaning or
  resolve
• I myself will do it
• Id rather do it myself

65
Reflexive Pronouns

• The rules are simple the -self or -selves
  words are used for two purposes first, to
  emphasize (Mother, Id rather do it myself),
  and second, reflexively, so that the action is
  turned back on the grammatical subject
• I never quite accustomed myself to the altitude
  of Denver
• Edith Schwager

66
Verbs- Action Words

• Verbs describe the existence or characteristics
  of the named subject or describe an action of the
  subject
• She is intelligent
• He hit the ball
• The chemist added hydrochloric acid

67
Verbs

• There are two types of verbs
• Transitive these take an object
• He gave me a hammer (hammer is the object here)
• Intransitive these have no object
• She ran
• Verbs can be used in both ways
• He grows roses (transitive)
• The guinea pig grows well (intransitive)

68
Verbs

• The Existence or characteristic verb (which is
  intransitive) is often some form of to be (is,
  are, were, was, etc.), but other linking verbs I
  ie, become, taste, smell, grow) are used
  frequently
• Sulfuric acid is a common reagent
• I am lonely
• This tastes terrible

69
Nominalizations

• One of the most frequent faults of scientists as
  writers is that they often confuse actions
  (verbs) with agents of the action (usually
  nouns). Such failure results in sentences that
  are difficult to read at best and
  incomprehensible at worst.

70
Nominalizations

• The three most common types of agent-action
  confusion result from
• The reluctance of scientists to use first-person
  pronouns
• The overuse of the passive voice (we will deal
  with this and the above later)
• The regrettable tendency to turn sharp action
  words (verbs) into weighty nouns. This last
  problem is called nominalization

71
Nominalizations

• When we say I studied the effect of A on B we
  know what was done, who did ti and about when it
  was done
• But, what if we turn the word studied, a verb,
  into a noun, study? And then use passive voice
  and jargon? We get An investigation was
  undertaken to determine the possible effect of A
  on B.
• Scientists do this all the time!

72
Nominalizations

• And gain
• We rejected that theory OR
• The rejection of that theory has been reported
• Watch out for nominalizations. Many end with
  tion. (see above)
• Almost always, the action verb will give the
  clearest meaning investigated is nearly always
  better than investigation.

73
Nominalizations

• Look at a final example (good to worse)
• I told him
• I informed him
• The information was communicated to him

74
Nominalizations

• Language is in decline. Not only has eloquence
  departed but simple, direct speech as well,
  though pomposity and banality have not.
• Edwin Newman

75
Descriptive Words

• These include
• Adjectives- describe or qualify the agents of the
  action (nouns, pronouns)
• Adverbs- describe or modify the action (verb)
• Articles- these are three words
• a
• an
• the
• They are often treated as adjectives but have
  peculiar usage

76
Adjectives

• An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun
• A red apple
• Usually, adjectives precede the nouns the modify,
  but at times can follow the noun and a linking
  verb
• The apple is red

77
Adjectives

• Two or more adjectives can modify a noun, but pay
  attention to order
• The large red doctors house
• The doctors large red house
• Is it the doctor or the house that is red?

78
Adjectives

• Avoid unnecessary adjectives
• He drew his bright sword
• This may suggest to the reader that he has two or
  more swords and he drew the bright one

79
Adjectives

• Adjectives not only state a quality of the noun
  or pronoun they modify, but they can also be used
  with various degrees of intensity. Each adjective
  can be compared as follows
• Cold (positive)
• Colder (comparative)
• Coldest (superlative)

80
Adjectives

• BUT, some words are irregular and do not follow
  the er, est style
• Much (positive)
• More (comparative)
• Most (superlative)
• Words can also be compared without the use of
  er and est. We could say cold, more cold and
  most cold

81
Adjectives

• Finally, English has a number of absolute words
  which are not subject to comparison, such as
• Unique
• Perfect
• Pregnant
• Infinite
• Something is either unique or not, but it cannot
  be more unique than something else

82
Adverbs

• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs
• He went slowly (modifies a verb)
• It was very small (modifies an adjective)
• He went very slowly (modifies an adverb)

83
Adverbs

• Many adverbs end in ly and are thus easy to
  identify. Other do not and thus are not.
• Many adverbs have related adjectives with which
  they can be confused
• This soup is really good (correct)
• This soup is real good (incorrect)

84
Adverbs

• We need to be careful
• I feel bad
• I feel badly
• Both are correct but mean different things. In
  the first, bad is an adjective (modifying I)
  and the sentence means I feel lousy. In the
  second, badly is an adverb (modifying feel) and
  the sentence means I have poor tactile sense.

85
Adverbs

• Like all modifiers, it is best to have adverbs
  near the words they modify. Adjectives do this
  easily, but it is tougher with adverbs, since
  they can modify verbs, adjectives and other
  adverbs. Thus, their exact placement is in a
  sentence is important to the meaning of the
  sentence.
• Adverbs such as often, only and never are often
  misplaced in scientific writing

86
Articles

• The articles a, an and the are the most common
  words in most kinds of writing
• A and an are called indefinite articles
• A is used before words that start with a
  consonant sound
• An is used before words that start with a vowel
  sound

87
Articles

• If used carefully, articles serve as guides to
  readers. The primary purpose of an article is to
  identify a noun. Because a huge number of words
  in English can be either nouns or verbs, we need
  articles to point to the nouns. This is
  confusing
• Plan moves slowly- could be
• Plan the moves slowly
• The plan moves slowly

88
Articles

• Syzygy, inexorable, pancreatic, phantasmagoria-
  anyone who can use those four words in one
  sentence will never have to do manual labor.
• W. P. Kinsella

89
Function Words

• There are three types of function words
• Conjunctions
• Prepositions
• Interjections
• These often act of a glue holding the parts of a
  sentence together

90
Conjunctions

• Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases
  or clauses
• Joe and Mary are going to the party
• She is neither in the house nor in the barn
• He ran, but she walked

91
Coordinating Conjunctions

• Coordinating conjunctions express equal weights
  of the joined words, phrases or clauses
• There are 7 coordinating conjunctions and, but,
  or, for, not, so, yet
• These words can connect the two clauses of a
  compound sentence
• He ran, but she walked

92
Coordinating Conjunctions

• Because these 7 words are among the most commonly
  used English words, and because your ability to
  punctuate sentences depends upon your ability to
  recognize them, you should remember them
• FANBOYS For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

93
Subordinating Conjunctions

• These connect unequal parts fro example, an
  independent clause with a dependent clause (dont
  worry about this!)
• Joe went to the party after he left the office
• A clause introduced by a subordinating
  conjunction is a subordinate (or dependent) clause

94
Subordinating Conjunction

• These often indicate a a time relationship or
  other limiting function
• The most common are although, before, after,
  because, if, where, than, since, as, unless,
  that, though, where, whereas, while
• When the party was over, he went home

95
Coordinating Adverb

• These are like coordinating conjunctions in that
  they are used to connect independent clauses
• However, coordinating conjunctions are preceded
  by a comma, whereas coordinating adverbs are
  preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma

96
Coordinating Adverb

• Coordinating adverbs include however, moreover,
  therefore, further, consequently, nevertheless,
  besides, accordingly, also, too
• We ran out of beer therefore, the party was over
• They can also coordinate 2 sentences
• We ran out of beer. Nevertheless, the party
  lasted until 400am

97
Prepositions

• Prepositions combine nouns with pronouns to form
  a phrase
• There are nearly 70 prepositions in the English
  language,ost expressing direction or location
• To the right
• In the middle

98
Problems with Prepositions

• There are 4 main problems we have with
  prepositions
• Syntax- phrase needs to be close to the word it
  modifies

99
Problems with Prepositions

• Syntax
• For sale, car owned by lady with dent in rear
• This has 4 prepositonal phrases
• For sale- related to car, the item for sale
• By lady- follows owned
• In rear- follows dent
• But, with dent is too far from car and too close
  to lady

100
Problems with Prepositions

• A second problem is the doubling of prepositions
• Inside of the park, many animals lived
• That question is outside of my area of interest
• Correct would be
• Inside the park
• Outside my area

101
Problems with Prepositions

• A third problem has to do with case. Prepositions
  are usually followed by objects, and so take the
  objective case (relates to objects), not the
  nominative case (relates to subjects)
• Wrong The argument was between he and I
• Right The argument was between him and me

102
Problems with Prepositions

• A fourth problem is athe use of a preposition to
  link an adjective (rather than a noun or pronoun)
  to another part of a sentence.
• Wrong She is too good of a person to complain
• Right She is too good a person to complain

103
Problems with Prepositions

• So, can you end a sentence with a preposition?
• Maybe yes, maybe no
• Rules are made to be broken

104
Interjections

• This is a word, phrase or sentence expressing an
  emotion
• Hey!
• Of course!
• I thought so!
• In scientific writing we rarely use interjections
  that require exclamation points

105
Interjections

• Mild exclamations are separated from the rest of
  the sentence by commas
• Oh, well, it was worth the try
• Interjecting a thought about interjections
• Dont use them!

106
(No Transcript)