PROBLEMS WITH LANGUAGE

Professor Low Wah Yun

Editorial Board Member, APJPH Health Research Development Unit (HeRDU) Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya

Introduction

English is not the most difficulty language to learn to speak well But to write scientific English with no flaws may be difficult especially for non-anglophone authors English as Second Language (ESL) Purpose of this lecture cover most frequently seen problems in writing scientific English To write as simply, clearly as possible and avoid major errors in grammar, style and usage

Articles: Omission or Incorrect Use

Articles a, an, the precede nouns

In five normal persons, serum calcium levels were normal In the five normal persons, serum calcium levels were normal Tumor in the lung was adenocarcinoma The tumor in the lung was an adenocarcinoma

Our only trial subject was John Jacob Jones

We sent trial questionnaires to the John Jacob Joneses in the telephone directory

We cannot find the case records of a John Jacob Jones

Research budgets are given by the Ministry of Science and Technology Malaysia We submitted our paper to the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health We consulted the Cambridge International Dictionary of English

Prepositions

He put the specimens into an appropriate preservative The patient would not put up with the adverse effects He became addicted to morphine

He became addicted with morphine

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Prepositions

Back pain can occur with poor sitting or standing posture or with incorrect lifting techniques Back pain can result from poor posture or incorrect lifting techniques The remaining children were not available due to residence outside the study area The remaining children were not studies because they lived outside the study area

Position of Verb

General rule : A verb should be placed within the central part of the sentence, not at the beginning or end

It was found at the autopsy an adrenal tumor

An adrenal tumor at the autopsy was found An adrenal tumor was found at the autopsy
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Modal Modifiers of Verbs

Modals are words placed before a simple form of a verb to modify the meaning of the verb
Can ----- could May ----- might Should ----- must Will ----- would Have to ----- ought to

We can sequence the identified gene We could sequence the gene if we had the additional funds

Readers may receive copies of our protocol by submitting adequately detailed descriptions of its probable use
Readers might receive copies for our protocol if the sponsoring pharmaceutical firm also consents

Further studies of this new pathogen should look at new environments Further studies of this new pathogen ought to look at new environments if carriers are to be identified

Studies were informed that they must wash their hands before leaving the laboratory
Given enough time, we should sequence this gene by the end of next year

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Perfect and Progressive Tenses of Verbs

Jones and Smith (1979) have reported results similar to ours Jones and Smith reported their results in 1979 We are finding additional types of tumors as apparent complications of AIDS We have found additional types of tumors as apparent complications of AIDS

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Phrasal Verbs

The study was put off until 100 more participants could be recruited The patient in Room 44 kicked the bucket this morning An important part of our selection of participants was asking them whether their personal physician routinely inquired after their alcohol intake The review committee inquired into the simultaneous use of other drugs

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Confused Adjectives
He has little data to support his claim

He has few data to support his claim

He had a large concentration of alcohol in his blood

He has a high concentration of alcohol in

his blood
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Defects in Sex Reference

The noncompliant patient may not intend to disregard your instructions; he may simply forget them

Noncompliant patients may not intend to

disregard your instruction; they may simply forget them The patient should choose the treatment he wants

Patients should choose the treatment

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Gender Bias

Man differ conspicuously from animals in his ability to write a language Men and women differ conspicuously from animals in the ability to write a language Humans differ conspicuously from animals in the ability to write a language

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Sexism, racism, dehumanizing terms

Sexist language is imprecise and undesirable

Man breastfeeds his young

Use terms that apply to both sexes

Human not man

Humankind not mankind Staff, personnel or work force not manpower

Never write he/she, or him/her

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Write sentences in the plural

Scientists are busy people

The scientist is a busy man

In medical journals, do not mention the race or color of patients, if these have no obvious clinical implications Dont use disparaging terms such as backward nation, primitive societies, imperialist warmongers Dont use expression like in this country, foreign

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Dehumanizing Words

diabetics diabetic patient

schizophrenics schizophrenic patient geriatrics patient in the geriatric wards amnesiacs patients with amnesia subjects volunteers cases patients

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Pronouns
At present we have two patients who are waiting for testing that would be suitable

We have two patients waiting for testing who would

be suitable

Neonatal infections affected babies that were smaller and born more premature

Neonatal infections affected babies who were

smaller and more premature

Small and premature babies were more susceptible

to neonatal infections
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False Plurals and False Singulars

The news about the drug trial were an obstacle to allowing it to continue The news about the drug trial was an obstacle to allowing it to continue The task force agree on the priorities for research in this field The task force recommends ten priorities for the research

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Collective Nouns

Represent a group of individuals considered as a single unit terms like committee, family, personnel, community, task force

We know that the family disagree on what to do about the senile parents
We have been told that the family agrees with our judgment about care of the senile parents

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Similar Sound, Different Meaning

An important principle for medical care is do no harm A principal cause of death in elderly persons in stroke When the participants have all arrived, the conference may proceed Christmas precedes Boxing Day

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Ambiguous Antecedents

Meaning may be ambiguous if you do not make clear the word to which a pronoun refers, its antecedent
Failure to treatment with penicillin could not have been predicted because of the defective assay method used. Unfortunately, this occurs in many hospitals Cimetidine is highly effective in suppressing gastric acid secretion in such cases. It is unfortunate that it is not prescribed more frequently Cimetidine is highly effective in suppressing gastric acid secretion in such cases. Unfortunately, it is not prescribed often enough

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Smith and Jones (16) found statistically significant lowering of diastolic blood pressure by hypoporessol and any minor adverse effects, whereas Brown and White (17) report that its use is frequently accompanied by episodes of cerebral ischemia. The authors conclude that the drug should be used only in carefully selected cases Dispel ambiguity and write We conclude that..

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Confused and Misused Word Pairs

Case vs. patient

Recurrent urinary tract stone was shown to be a manifestation of primary hyperparathyroidism in 2 cases who were subsequently admitted for parathyroidectomy Following vs. after

She began to bleed immediately after the operation She began to bleed following the operation

Individual vs. person

We screened ten persons to find a suitable donor

We screened ten individuals to find a suitable donor 25

Utilize vs. use We used the only antibiotic available to us in that remote hospital We utilized the only antibiotic available to us in that remote hospital Comprise vs. compose The curriculum comprises six courses Six courses compose the curriculum Which vs that These diseases, which cause most of the deaths each year during the monsoon season, are the main topic for this lecture This is the one lesion that is usually fatal

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Effect vs. affect Incidence vs. prevalence Dosage vs. dose Infer vs. imply Varying vs. various Etiology vs. cause Accuracy vs. precision Etc, etc, etc, etc.

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Replacing abstract nouns

Replacing abstract nouns with equivalent verb forms both shortens and strengthens a sentence

Abstract nouns ending with ..ion should alert you to the need to revise
Many stuffy, long-winded passages can be cleaned up by replacing abstract nouns with verbs

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Replacing abstract nouns : Examples

The identification and classification of the various histologic types of lymphomas are vital steps toward the introduction of new therapies and the reduction of mortality Identifying and classifying the histologic types of lymphomas are vital steps to ward introducing new therapies and reducing mortality

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After reviewing the evidence we had to come to the conclusion that an advantage with the new treatment had not been established After reviewing the evidence, we concluded that the new treatment offered no advantage

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Cutting out clauses

Cancer of the breast, which is known to be a leading cause of death in women, too often escapes detection in an early stage Cancer of the breast, still a leading cause of death in women, too often escapes detection in an early stage

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Deleting Empty Phases and Words

In order to get a complete history from the patient, it would appear that the inexperienced clinician needs a systematic line of inquiry To get a complete history from the patient, the inexperienced clinician needs a systematic line of inquiry

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Unneeded Words and Phrases

Empty Phrase

Equivalent

A majority of Due to the fact that During the course of For the purpose of Give rise to In close proximity to In all cases In connection with In the event of

Most Because During, while For Cause Near Always, invariably About, concerning if

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Pompous Words to Avoid & Suggested Alternatives

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Additional Approximately Assistance Elevated Frequently Following Novel Participant Possesses sacrifice

More About Help Raised, higher Often After New Take part Has kill

Deleting Unneeded Adjectives and Adverbs

The usual metastatic lesions in bone are very painful Metastatic lesions in bone are painful Metastatic lesions in bone cause severe pain General rule (Read H, 1952) ..omit all epithets that may be assumed and admitted only those which definitely further action, interest, or meaning

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Differences in American and British Vocabularies, Spelling, and Punctuation

British

American

Meter, fibre Tumour, honour Grey Programme Fulfil, instal Hospitalise, analyse Ageing Anaemia, oedema

Meter, fiber Tumor, honor Gray Program Fulfill, install Hospitalize, analyze Aging Anemia, edema

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His research grant came from the NIH (American) His research grant came from the M.R.C. (British) The best source for nomenclature style in the animal sciences and medicine is Chapter 24, Human and Animal Life. (American) The best source for nomenclature style in the animal sciences and medicine is Chapter 24, Human and Animal Life. (British)

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Punctuation : Hyphen

Too late for fat lovers to repent They studies random samples by means of a doctor administered questionnaire

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General Advice on Style in Science

Use the first person (I or we), but dont overuse it Use the active voice (X crossed the membrane) Use the past tense for observations, completed actions and specific conclusions (The infusion caused local irritation) Use the present tense for generalizations and statements of general validity (Most regions where the problem arises belong to category X)

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Avoid gobbledegook jargon pompous use of long words or other linguistic flatulence (Howard 1984)
Although solitary under normal prevailing circumstances, racoons may congregate simultaneously in certain situations of artificially enhanced nutrient resource availability Racoons live alone but come together when bait is provided

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Verb tense to use throughout your paper

Section Verb tense Examples
It is known that. There is no evidence that . Therefore, we investigated whether Methods 41 Past tense throughout Participants were recruited from. Introduction Present or past tense for describing the evidence that exists Past tense for describing your aims and hypotheses

Section
Results

Verb Tense
Past tense for results Present tense to refer to tables, etc. Present tense for answers to questions Present tense to discuss the literature Past tense to discuss the results

Examples
We found that Figure I1 shows that Our findings suggest that.. Evidence from cohort studies shows that We found that..

Discussion

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Conclusion

Non-anglophone authors may have enough command of English to be able to write papers in English Elements of grammar, and can make errors in many details of English style and usage Errors in spelling spell checker in a wordprocessing program Obtain comments from colleagues or co-authors

Many errors are not serious get detected and 43 corrected in the editorial office of the journal

THANK YOU

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References

Huth EJ. Writing and Publishing in Medicine. 3rd Edition. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1999 Day RA. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. 4th Edition. Westport: Oryx Press, 1998 Peat et. al. Scientific Writing. London: BMJ Books, 2002

Albert T. Winning Publications Game. Oxon: Radcliffe Medical Press, 2000

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