PLACING OF 'USED'

Before a noun

When 'used' is placed before a noun as an adjective, it generally means 'second-hand' (used by someone else).

e.g. This garage sells used cars.

"Good quality used toys are also very welcome." (Article in The Bolton News)

After a noun

e.g. All chemicals used were of analytical grade.

The above sentence is found in many scientific papers. It means that all the chemicals that were used in a particular experiment or series of experiments were of analytical grade. In this context, 'used' should always be placed after the noun.

All used chemicals were of analytical grade.

Placing 'used' before the noun implies that the chemicals are 'second-hand'. Although this grammatically incorrect phrase has crept into some published papers, 98% of papers containing this phrase (according to Google Scholar) place 'used' after the noun.

CONTRACTIONS

A contraction is "a shortening of a word or group of words" (Collins English Dictionary). Usually, the missing letters are replaced by an apostrophe.

For example:

cannot → can't

does not → doesn't
we will → we'll
would not → wouldn't

Contractions can be used in informal writing or in conversation. When used in conversation, they help to make speech sound more natural.

Contractions are generally not considered acceptable in formal writing, such as academic papers or job applications. In formal writing, words and phrases should be written out in full.

BEWARE OF THE THESAURUS!

A piece of writing can be dull if adjectives are used repeatedly. We can use a thesaurus to add variation to our writing; however, this should be used with caution as no two words have exactly the same meaning.

Here's an example; you are writing a scientific paper and you want to describe the performance of a catalyst. You want to find an alternative to 'good' and 'excellent' because you have used those words a few times already.

You get out your thesaurus (or access one online) and discover that 'distinguished' is a synonym of 'excellent', so you write,

"X gives a distinguished performance as a catalyst for . . . "

Unfortunately, this is not quite right. As an adjective, 'distinguished' is normally used to describe people. The Collins online dictionary defines 'distinguished' as,

1. noble or dignified in appearance or behaviour
2. eminent; famous; celebrated

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/distinguished

A good strategy is to use a dictionary in combination with a thesaurus to make sure that a word is suitable for your purpose. Using Google to see how words are used in sentences can also be helpful.

ALWAYS READ ALOUD

As an editor, I find that reading documents aloud helps me to spot mistakes; errors in grammar generally spoil the flow of the text, so reading aloud makes them stand out. (Fortunately, I work from home, so only my family hears me talking to myself. 😊)


The saying "there is nothing new under the sun" comes from the book of Ecclesiastes (1:9), and it is true. Reading aloud was something I worked out for myself 'on the job', but I've since found many articles advising proofreaders (and others whose work is concerned with English grammar) to read work aloud. Here are just a few examples:

To help develop an instinctive feel for the flow of a sentence, try reading it aloud and insert a comma when you pause . . .

(Let’s eat Grandma! How to use, and not use the comma, David Marsh, The Guardian)

Even if you’re just whispering away at your desk, reading aloud is a great way to find and spot mistakes, especially missing punctuation or repeated words.

(3 Things You Should Do When Speed Proofreading, Grammarly)

Read aloud - small errors of expression and punctuation are more likely to become obvious if you read aloud.

(Effective proof reading, University of Reading)

. . . when you read out loud, you can't help but stumble over typos and missing words.

(My Favorite Editing Tip: Read it Aloud, Kate Kiefer Lee)

BOOKS - PAPER OR ELECTRONIC?

Kindle vs paper books

I bought an Amazon Kindle back in 2010; since then, I've only bought a few paper books for myself, usually when the Kindle version wasn't available. I acquired a Kindle Fire a few years later and now I'm rarely without it. I love being able to carry a whole library of books around with me and being able to read any of them at any time.

Not everyone, however, likes the idea of electronic books. For many people, the appearance, texture and smell of paper books is important. It has also been pointed out to me that, should Amazon ever fall, I could lose my library of electronic books.

As a perpetual Open University student, I've found that Kindle or e-books don't always work well as textbooks, particularly when you want to have several of them open at the same time, or when you're asked to read certain pages and the e-book has no page numbers.

When I used paper books, I frequently lent or gave them to other people once I'd finished reading them. This can't be done with Kindle books and I do sometimes miss being able to do that.

The Kindle is fairly simple to use for anyone who is comfortable using, for example, a mobile phone; it does, however, require some technological know-how. This might be regarded as a problem by some people.

Despite these drawbacks, for me, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Our house is full of books - we have at least one large, full bookcase in every room and no space for more book storage. As a family of four, we have collected just over 500 e-books since we bought our first Kindle; as paper books, these would fill at least two floor-to-ceiling-height bookcases.

That brings me to another advantage of Kindle books. Although we can't lend them out or give them away, as a family sharing the same Amazon account, we all have access to each other's books through our Kindles and we can read them at the same time, should we wish to.

Kindle books are generally cheaper than paper books and are sometimes free. Many of the older classics can be downloaded free from Amazon. Free e-books can also be downloaded from the Project Gutenberg website as well as from Internet Archive. Amazon runs regular offers on Kindle books and books that would normally cost a few pounds can often be bought for under a pound on a particular day or during a particular month. Even Kindle books purchased at their full price are nearly always a pound or two cheaper than their paperback equivalent.

Have you ever been reading a novel and encountered a character whose name you recognise but can't remember how they relate to other characters or to the plot in general? When reading a Kindle book, you can search back through the book to find past references to that character and remind yourself how they fit into the story. The search facility is also useful if you want find a quote from a book. As well as being searchable, Kindle books can be highlighted or annotated, without permanently defacing the book.

If you find a word you don't know, on the Kindle Fire, you can touch that word and immediately obtain a dictionary definition - this is much quicker and less disruptive to the reading process than looking the word up in a paper dictionary.

On a Kindle, you can alter the print size from very small through to very large, which is really useful if you struggle to read small print. You can also change the font, the line spacing, and the background colour.

It can certainly be argued that e-books are more environmentally friendly than paper ones. Taking the average weight of a paperback book as 440g (Source: Ask), 500 paperbacks weigh about 220kg. That's quite a lot of paper.

SIMILAR WORDS WITH DIFFERENT MEANINGS

Many words in the English language look and sound similar to others. Whether we are writing novels or scientific papers, we like to make our writing interesting by varying the words we use. We do need to be careful how we do this, though. Here are a couple of errors I spotted recently:

The adjective, consistent versus the verb, consist

When writing a scientific paper, we often say that a particular scientific result is consistent with those obtained by other researchers. This means that our result is in agreement with what other researchers have found.

So . . . can we rephrase that and say that our results are consisting with those of Smith et al.?
Unfortunately, no; this does not make sense. The verb, 'consist' is nearly always followed by the preposition, 'of'. We use 'consist of' when we are talking about the component parts or ingredients in something. For example, 'The loaf of bread I made this morning consists of yeast, flour, sugar, oil, water and salt.' 

'Consist' and 'consistent' may sound very similar, but they do not mean the same thing.



The adjectives, common and communal

I recently came across a reference to a communal, rather than a common plant. 'Communal' is, after all, very similar to the word 'common', so this was an understandable mistake. Although both words come from the same Latin root, they have different meanings in English. The adjective, communal, is used to describe things held in common or used by a lot of people at once (such as 'communal bins'), whereas the adjective, common, is used to describe something which is widely available or frequently seen.

When in doubt, it's best to check dictionary definitions. The good news is, many dictionaries are available free online, for example:

http://www.collinsdictionary.com and
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com

VERB AGREEMENT: VOLUME AND MASS

I frequently proofread scientific papers containing statements like, fifty millilitres of [chemical] was/were poured into a flask.

Previously, I would have always used the plural form, 'were' in this context, reasoning that fifty millilitres is a plural quantity. This view was challenged recently, which led me to find out what the experts had to say on the subject. According to 'English Grammar for Dummies', 'was' should be used.

"In grammar, treat them as singular whenever we think of them as a lump."
(English Grammar for Dummies, L J Ward & G Woods)

(The other books I consulted did not mention this issue.)

This view is supported by American Journal Experts; similarly, the ACS (American Chemical Society) Style Guide states that, "Units of measure are treated as collective nouns that take a singular verb."

I have now stopped changing 'was' to 'were' in sentences like this.

A quick look at some online forums made it clear that there are differing views on the matter.
(e.g. Protocol Online, English Language & Usage Stack Exchange, Word Reference)

Many organisations produce style guides, although most of those I found online did not mention this issue.

The following style guides state that a singular verb should be used in the above context.

MacMillan Cancer Support
NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)
University of Cincinnati
University of South Carolina
Wiley-Blackwell

I was only able to find one manual that required the use of a plural verb for plural units of measurement.

American Physiological Society

It appears therefore, that the consensus is that a singular verb should be used for units of measure.

Please feel free to comment if you have a view on this.

NOUNS THAT DO NOT ADD 'S' IN THE PLURAL (PART 3)

Some nouns function as both countable and uncountable nouns. Here are some examples.

Air(s)
When we are talking about the mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and other gases that is all around us, we would not normally add 's'.
e.g. I'm going outside for some fresh air.
Sometimes, however, we say that someone is 'giving themselves airs', meaning that they are behaving pretentiously. In this context, it is correct to add 's'.

Buffalo(es)
Collins Dictionary states that the plural of buffalo can be either buffalo or buffaloes and both are used. A recent video on the Washington Post website uses both versions! The title is, 'Runaway buffaloes give police a hard time in Ariz', while the caption (attributed to Reuters) reads, 'Officers had a hard time subduing a herd of buffalo . . . '
The noun, deer(s) is similar to buffalo(es) in that the plural of deer can be either deer or deers.

Criticism(s)
When talking about criticism in general, we do not add 's'.
e.g. 'My blog has received a great deal of criticism.'
Someone might also say something like, 'I have a number of criticisms to make about this blog', meaning that they would like to point out several different faults with it. In this context, it is correct to add 's' in the plural.

Experience(s)
I might say, 'I have experience in proofreading scientific papers.'
A statement like this is often used to inspire confidence; it means that I have proofread a lot of papers; therefore, you can be confident that I know what I am doing and will do a good job. In this context, 's' would not be added to 'experience'.
'Experience' can also be used in a different way.
e.g. Doing a parachute jump was one of the scariest experiences of my life.
Here, 'experience' is used to refer to a particular event. In this context, it is correct to add 's' in the plural.

Friendship
If we talk about friendship in general, we would not add 's'.
e.g. 'Friendship has been given a special status in our society.'
We may also talk about individual friendships, in which case we would add 's' if we are talking about more than one of them.
e.g. 'Almost 60% of us claim that our friendships are more important to us than career, money or family.'
(The Guardian)

Hair(s)
No 's' is added when referring to a quantity of hair.
e.g. My hair is brown. (i.e. The 100,000 or so hairs I have on my head are nearly all brown.)
When talking about individual strands of hair, we add 's' to form the plural.
e.g. I pulled three grey hairs out of my fringe this morning.

Joy(s)
Joy is an uncountable noun in the following context.
'The culture of the Red Bus Project is full of joy . . .' (The Murray State News)
Here, 'joy' refers to a general feeling of happiness; however, we sometimes talk about individual 'joys'.
e.g. '. . . it takes time to realise the joys of Radio Four . . .' (What's on Stage)
Evil(s), freedom(s), grief(s), happiness(es), hope(s), sadness(es), trouble(s) and
virtue(s) function in a similar way to joy(s). 

Paper(s)
Paper can refer to paper in general, in which case we would not add 's'.
e.g. Junk mailing wastes a lot of paper.
A paper can also refer to a newspaper, or a document, such as a research paper, or a discussion paper. In this context, we would add 's' in the plural.
e.g. I have two papers which must be proofread by tomorrow. 

Sleep(s)
Sleep is normally an uncountable noun.
e.g. How much sleep do you need?
Sometimes, however, parents or carers find that children struggle to understand the concept of time. Frequently, they ask questions like, 'how long is it until Christmas Day?' An answer like, 'two weeks' is sometimes hard to understand, whereas 'fourteen sleeps' is much more straightforward. This means that, after fourteen bedtimes, it will be Christmas Day. ('Sleeps' in this context would not be used in formal writing.)

Time(s)
If we are talking about time in general, it is regarded as an uncountable noun.
e.g. I will have plenty of time to spend with my parents this weekend.
'Time' is a countable noun when it is used to mean an instance.
e.g. Please come down for lunch; I have already called you three times!

Work(s)
Work can be something that needs to be, or has been done, in which case it is an uncountable noun.
e.g. I have a lot of work to do today.
Work can also function as a countable noun, when it refers to something that someone has done or made.
e.g. 'The 10 greatest works of art ever' (The Guardian)

Water(s)
When talking about a quantity of water, we would not add 's'.
e.g. There is a lot of water in the ocean.
The phrase, 'sample the waters' is often used when talking about visiting a place where the water is thought to have health benefits.
e.g. 'Sample the waters at Taychreggan' (Highland News)

Other words that fall into this category are:

cloth(s)
culture(s)
death(s)
democracy (democracies)
fish(es)
ice(s)
insurance(s)
justice(s)
liberty (liberties)
money (monies)
music(s)
oxygen(s)
pity (pities)
poetry (poetries)
pride(s)
progress(es)
rain(s)
research(es)
sheep(s)
speed(s)
steel(s)
surveillance(s)
swine(s)
taste(s)
travel(s)
trout(s)
weather(s)


Please feel free to comment if you can think of words that I have missed, or if you disagree with any of the above.

References accessed while writing this blog post:
British Council
Business Writing
Collins English Dictionary
Count and Non-Count Nouns
Learn English Online
Learn English Today
The EF Englishtown Blog
English Plurals (Wikipedia)

NOUNS THAT DO NOT ADD 'S' IN THE PLURAL (PART 2)

A number of nouns do not normally add 's' in the plural, but may do under certain circumstances.

'S' may be added to certain nouns when talking about different varieties of the noun, but not when talking about a quantity of the noun, or about the noun in general.
Here are some examples:

Bread(s)
Most of the bread we eat is baked at home. (This is about a quantity of bread.)
'. . .focus your efforts on learning how to shape your breads well.' (The Independent)
(This is about different varieties of bread.)

Fruit(s)
I keep a bowl of fruit in my kitchen. (This is about a quantity of fruit.)
If you look in the frozen section at your local supermarket, you are likely to find a selection of berries labelled 'summer fruits'. The term, 'fruits of the forest' is also in regular use and refers to another selection of mixed berries.

Meat(s)
There's plenty of meat in the freezer. (This is about a quantity of meat.)
'Sweet peppers make a great addition to grilled meats and fish.' (BBC Good Food)
(This is about different varieties of meat.)

Milk(s)
Milk is a source of calcium. (This is about milk in general.)
'The different milks tend to vary according to the way they are produced.'
(The Dairy Council)
(This is about different varieties of milk.)

Sugar(s)
Fizzy drinks contain a lot of sugar. (This is about a quantity of sugar.)
'A new WHO guideline recommends adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy.' (World Health Organisation)
(This is about different varieties of sugar.)
Another case where 's' would be added to sugar is when talking about teaspoons of sugar in tea or coffee. If someone was asked what they take in their tea, they might answer,
'milk and two sugars, please.'
(They really mean, two teaspoons of sugar.)

Wine(s)
I have a lot of wine in my cellar. (This is about wine in general.)
'French polish: three wines from Bordeaux'. (The Guardian.)
(This is about different varieties of wine.)

Other nouns that fall into this category include:
aluminium
beer
cheese
coffee
cream
flour
food
leather
metal
pasta
plastic
porcelain
rice
salt
tea
wood
wool

Part 3 of this post will focus on nouns that sometimes have 's' added to them in the plural, for other reasons.

Please feel free to comment on or disagree with what is written here.

NOUNS THAT DO NOT ADD 'S' IN THE PLURAL (PART 1)

Certain nouns in the English language do not have separate plural forms. They are sometimes referred to as 'uncountable', or 'non-count' nouns.

One example is 'evidence'. If we are using 'evidence' as a noun, we should never add an 's' to it.

'Experimental evidence confirms that . . .' is correct.
'Experimental evidences confirm that . . .' is not correct.
(It would be correct to refer to 'pieces of evidence'.)

Other nouns that should not have an 's' added to them include:

• accommodation
• advice
• anger
• applause
• aircraft
• bravery
• chaos
• clarity
• conduct
• courage
• cowardice
• education
• electricity
• equipment
• furniture
• greed
• harm
• health
• heat
• hockey
• homework
• honesty
• hospitality
• housework
• information
• jewellery
• leisure
• literature
• livestock
• luggage
• knowledge
• machinery
• marketing
• melancholy
• moose
• mud
• news
• peace
• photography
• publicity
• pyjamas
• softness
• safety
• shopping
• sunshine
• traffic
• violence
• warmth

Some of the above nouns can become countable if we precede them with other words, such as 'items' or 'pieces'. We can refer to:

• pieces of advice
• pieces of equipment
• items/pieces of furniture
• pieces of homework
• items/pieces of information
• items/pieces of jewellery
• items/pieces of literature
• items/pieces of luggage
• items/pieces of knowledge
• items/pieces of machinery
• items/pieces of news
• items/pieces of publicity
• pairs of pyjamas
• items/pieces of shopping
• rays of sunshine

There are a number of nouns that would not normally have an 's' added to them in the plural, but may do under certain circumstances. Parts 2 and 3 of this post deal with nouns such as these.

ARTICLES

One of the most frequent corrections I make as an editor is to add or remove direct and indirect articles. How do we know when to use articles, and whether to use definite or indefinite articles?


Indefinite articles:
These are “a” and “an.” Indefinite articles are generally used when the speaker is referring to a non-specific item.
e.g. I would like a coffee. (Any coffee)

We use “an” before a word beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o or u) sound and “a” before a word beginning with a consonant (non-vowel) sound.
e.g. a car, an umbrella
Note that it is the sound a word begins with when spoken that determines whether “a” or “an” is required, so it is best to say a word aloud to decide which one to use.
e.g. even though “unicorn” is spelled with an initial “u” (a vowel), it is pronounced “you-ni-corn,” so we say “a unicorn.”
Similarly, although “hour” is spelled with an initial “h” (a consonant), this is silent (i.e. “our”), so we would say “an hour.”


The definite article:
This is “the,” and it is generally used to refer to something specific.
e.g. Would you bring me the bill? (Specifically my bill and not someone else’s)


For a more comprehensive guide to using articles, including situations in which they are not used (the zero article), I would recommend A Short Article on Articles by David Appleyard


Photo credit: kate mccarthy (Creative Commons)

RESPECTIVELY

Some writers seem to be particularly fond of the word, “respectively,” so much so that they scatter it, like confetti, within their documents. 😊 Alternatively, it is tagged, indiscriminately, onto the ends of sentences.

It is stated in the Oxford Dictionary that “respectively” means “in the order already mentioned.”


Example

The estimated populations of Scotland and England in 2013 were 5.3 million and 53.9 million, respectively.

The use of “respectively” in this sentence indicates that the population estimates are listed in the same order as the countries. (It was estimated that there were 5.3 million people in Scotland and 53.9 million people in England.)


It would not be correct to write:

In the year ending 30th June 2013, there were 792,400 births and 580,300 deaths in the UK, respectively.

In this case, the word “respectively” is redundant as both figures refer to the UK.


(Figures are provided by the Office for National Statistics.)


Other appropriate uses of “respectively” are:

“The Lego Movie sequel is pencilled in for a 2018 release, with the Ninjago and Batman films pegged for 2016 and 2017, respectively.”

(“Respectively” indicates that the expected release years, 2016 and 2017, refer to the Ninjago and Batman films, in that order.)


“The cost of filling up the tank and stocking up on groceries fell year-on-year by 16.2% and 2.5%, respectively, in January and led to the lowest levels of consumer price inflation seen since the 1960s.”

(The cost of filling up the tank fell by 16.2%, while the cost of stocking up on groceries fell by 2.5%.)


“Respectively” should be used only when two or more pieces of information refer back to the same number of previously mentioned items. (In the previous examples, the two release years refer to two films, and the two percentages refer to two budget items.)


Photo credits: Jörg Brinckheger (Creative Commons) & Minale Tattersfield (Creative Commons)

Updated Saturday 21 March 2020

PROTECTION OF, AGAINST OR FROM?

Many organisations exist to protect people, animals, things or values.

e.g. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB),

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB)


When we use the phrase, “protection of” in this context, we mean that whatever follows “of” (such as birds or ancient buildings) must be protected.


The phrase, “protection of” can also be used in another context.

A recent article in the Glasgow Herald was entitled, “Whistleblowers need full protection of the law”. This means that whistleblowers must be protected by the law.


We also use the phrases “protection against” and “protection from.”

A government document published last year is entitled: “Improving protection against meningitis C leaflet”. This is about protecting people from a dangerous illness, by vaccination and vigilance.

“Urgent calls for protection against storms; mountain roads closed” was published in the Cyprus Mail today, indicating that people and property need protection from storms.

The word, “against” could be replaced with “from” in either of these titles, without changing the meaning.

Similarly, “from” in “Protection from online bullying and harassment” could be replaced with “against”.

Generally, “protection against” and “protection from” are interchangeable.

Photo credit: Jimmy Edmonds (Creative Commons)