Common Difficulties Encountered by Non-Native English Speakers

1. Common Difficulties Encountered by Non-Native English Speakers (especially Chinese)

2. Tense • Problem: Chinese language does not have tenses • We discussed this a little yesterday. • In a scientific paper: • Abstract: usually past tense, except introductory statement may be present tense • Introduction: usually present tense • Methods: past tense • Results: past tense • Discussion: present tense

3. Subject-Verb Agreement • For complicated sentences, remember to look for the subject, where ever it may be, and make the verb agree with the subject. • Read the sentence without all the modifiers and clauses to help you • Diagram the sentence to help you

4. Plural Nouns Used as Adjective When a plural noun is used as an adjective, it becomes singular: • Phenotype of dendritic cells • cells is a plural noun • Dendritic cell phenotype • phenotype is the noun and cells is the adjective • But cells becomes singular as the adjective • Dendritic cell population • population of dendritic cells

5. Abbreviations: Singular or Plural? If a word or term will be used in both the singular and plural, then it is better to derive the abbreviation from the singular form and add an sto make it plural. • An important effector cell in an immune response is the dendritic cell (DC). • Islet infiltrates consist mainly of T cells but also include macrophages, DCs, and B cells.

6. Commonly Used Terms • Suggest: to cause you to think about something • Use when your results point to that direction, but you haven’t totally proven it • The genetic results suggest that CD103 is a candidate gene for the development of type 1 diabetes. • Assess: to evaluate, but in common speech usually refers to estimating a value for something. • Not a great word to use in science. Use determine instead.

7. Commonly Used Terms • Determine: to decide or settle, to reach a conclusion • We wanted to determine….. • For experiments that have not yet been done: The actual binding constant remains to be determined. • Investigate vs Examine • investigate: to observe or determine in detail • examine: to analyze or carefully observe • But investigate is a little stronger, and shows more action

8. Commonly Used Terms • Demonstrate vs Show • Demonstrate: to prove or make evident by reasoning, to describe by experiment • Show: to make visible, to present • Demonstrate is stronger for science writing • But use show for: • As shown in Fig. 14 • Not: As showed in Fig. 14

9. Commonly Used Terms • Imply vs Implicate: frequently misused • Implicate: to connect or involve • Our results implicate glucocorticoids as a cause for… • Imply: to say or express indirectly • The surgeon implied that the disease was fatal. • Elucidate: to make clear • Usually used with respect to something very complicated • Our long-term goal is to elucidate the role of PPAR2 in the development of type I diabetes.

10. Slang/Spoken Language • Be careful not to use slang or common terms • getting the DNA sequence • Change to: determining the DNA sequence

11. Articles: A/An/The • Which to use: a/an or the? • When to use them, when not to. • Often it takes an “ear” for the language, which takes time to develop. • One of the most difficult concepts in writing for non-native English speakers, both European and Asian.

12. Articles: A/An/The • Identify nouns as nouns, as general or specific • articles are not adjectives • A/An: indefinite, evolved from the word one • Used only in singular • If a noun is plural, the a/an is usually omitted • The: specifies the noun • The picture means a specific picture • A picture could refer to any picture

13. Rules • Use a or an with singular nouns that name things that can be counted but whose specificidentity is not known. • A paper, an experiment • NOT: The nurse gave a water to the patient. • Water cannot be counted. So it should read: The nurse gave water to the patient. • Use the with most nouns whose identity is known to the reader • The professor teaching this class… • The experiment that I just described…

14. Rules • Do not use the with most singular proper nouns. • NOT:the Professor Dynan, • NOT: the China • But there are many exceptions: • The United States of America, • The People’s Republic of China • The Medical College of Georgia

15. Articles: A/An/The • British and American writing differ somewhat • British omit the article before singular nouns that refer to places or times • British: He attends university. • American: He attends a university. • But there are some nouns in American English where the article is also omitted. • On Sunday, she always goes to church. We, of course, would like you to learn American English!!!

16. A or An? Rule • Usea before a word that starts with a consonant • Usean before a word that starts with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) But • It is the sound of, not the letter at, the beginning of the word • A university/an umbrella • A hero/an honest person

17. A/An/The Yes, it is confusing….but don’t worry. You will get the hang of it with practice!! 

18. Whether • Conjunction used in indirect questions to introduce an alternative • Sentence does not take a ? because the question is indirect • These experiments will tell us whether GILZ inhibits marker gene expression indirectly through down-regulation of PPAR2.

19. Whether • Do not use whether or not. Or not is redundant. • NO:These experiments will tell us whether or not GILZ inhibits marker gene expression indirectly through down-regulation of PPAR2. • Do not use as to whether. Change to whether.

20. Which/That • Pronouns that introduce adjectival clauses (clauses that modify nouns in the sentence) • Restrictive clauses define the noun • Use that • No commas • Non-restrictive clauses are extra and the sentence is meaningful without them • Use which • Set the phrase off by commas

21. Which/That: Examples • Regulatory CD4+ T cells in non-obese diabetic mice may include Th2 cells (which/that) secrete Il-4, Il-5, Il-6, Il-10, and Il-30. • Answer: Regulatory CD4+ T cells in non-obese diabetic mice may include Th2 cells, which secrete Il-4, Il-5, Il-6, Il-10, and Il-30. • Because the clause is non-restrictive, is extra. Sentence has meaning without the clause. • Which • Use commas

22. Which/That: Examples • Effector CD4+ T cells in non-obese diabetic mice may include cells (which/that) secrete Il-2, Il-3, Il-12, IFN- and TNF-. • Answer: Effector CD4+ T cells in non-obese diabetic mice may include cells that secrete Il-2, Il-3, Il-12, IFN- and TNF-. • The clause is restrictive, defines the cells, is needed for the meaning of the sentence. • That • No commas.

23. Which/That Note The which/that problem is probably one of the most common mistakes that I find among all scientists, including Americans!

24. Improper Use of That • That can be a pronoun or an adjective. • That is the reason why you can’t go out tonight. (pronoun, is the subject) • That dog bit me. (adjective, modifies dog) • As a pronoun, it can be the subject or object of a clause. • The dog that bit me was mean. (subject of dependent clause)

25. But if it is the subject of a clause, there must be a predicate to the clause. • The observation of disease protection in these NOD congenic mice demonstrates that the existence of over 20 individual MHC and non-MHC-associated Idd loci on 12 chromosomes. • No predicate, no verb in that clause • Should be: The observation of disease protection in these NOD congenic mice demonstrates the existence of over 20 individual MHC and non-MHC-associated Idd loci on 12 chromosomes.

26. Another example • We found that lower expression of CCR6/CCR7 in bone marrow dendritic cells from NOD mice using GE Chemokine cDNA arrays. • not a dependent clause, not another verb • Change to:We found lower expression of CCR6/CCR7 in bone marrow dendritic cells from NOD mice using GE Chemokine cDNA arrays. • expression is object of verb found; all the rest are adjectival, prepositional phrases.

27. Misplaced Modifiers • The early focus of these studies was chemoprevention of chemical or photo carcinogen-induced in rodent tumorigenesis. • Carcinogen-induced modifies tumorigenesis (an adjective) • What kind of tumorigenesis? Carcinogen-induced. • Put it next to tumorigenesis. • In rodent modifies tumorigenesis. (a prepositional, adjectival phrase) • Answers where

28. Misplaced Modifiers • Original: The early focus of these studies was chemoprevention of chemical or photo carcinogen-induced in rodent tumorigenesis. • Change to: The early focus of these studies was chemoprevention of chemical or photo carcinogen-induced tumorigenesis in rodents.

29. Misplaced Modifiers • Gastroesophageal reflux disease is a very common complaint which may be complicated by the development of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma. • What does the phrase which may be complicated describe? • In this sentence, it describes complaint. But it is meant to describe the disease.

30. Misplaced Modifiers • Original: Gastroesophageal reflux disease is a very common complaint which may be complicated by the development of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma. • Change to:Gastroesophageal reflux disease, which may be complicated by the development of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma, is a very common complaint.

31. Be careful of Spellchecker! • Dr. Michael Shrout presented a plague to Dr. Lloyd Cook as Past Chair of the MCG Faculty for 1997-98. Drs. Campbell and Potter were presented a plague in appreciation of their service…… • Spellchecker did not catch the gross error here…..should be plaque, not plague. • Big difference!!!

32. Parallel Construction • Mutations in RLF2 are associated with severe mycobacterial, staphylococcal infection and leprosy. • 3 items in the series, but unparallel • Change to:Mutations in RLF2 are associated with severe mycobacterial and staphylococcal infections and leprosy. • 2 items in the series: infections (2 types) and leprosy, in parallel

33. Use of Hyphens • Compound nouns do not take a hyphen (dash) • What was the dose response of glucocorticoids in bone marrow cells? • Compound adjectives take a hyphen • We carried out glucocorticoid dose-response experiments in bone marrow.

34. Use hyphens in the following common phrases • Insulin-mediated effect • DNA-binding protein • Antibody-specific reaction • Heat-induced effects • 12-week-old mice • Not 12 week-old mice (unless you are talking about twelve (a dozen) mice!

35. When items in a series becomes confusing • The use of animals is justified by the importance of the disease under study, osteoporosis, and the impossibility of performing a comparable study in humans. • How many reasons are there? Looks like 3? • Importance of disease • osteoporosis • impossibility

36. In a Series • Change to:The use of animals is justified by the importance of osteoporosis and the impossibility of performing a comparable study in humans. • Removed the disease under study. It is redundant, anyway. • An alternative might be to leave the sentence as it was but to put osteoporosis in parentheses.

37. Serial Comma Rule • In a series consisting of 3 or more elements, separate all the elements with commas. Use a comma before the conjunction that joins the last two elements. • Prevents confusion • However, American newspapers and the British usually do not use that final comma!

38. Commas & Semi-colons • If the items in the series are long and contain commas within them, then use a semi-colon to separate the items instead of commas.

39. Example At least five polypeptides participate in mammalian non-homologous end joining. These include the two subunits of Ku, which bind to DNA ends; DNA ligase IV and XRCC4, which form a complex that catalyzes strand ligation; and the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit, which regulates the reaction.

40. Upper Case (Capital) Letters • Chinese does not have upper and lower case letters • General rule is to use upper case letters in all words of a title except for articles (a/an/the), prepositions, and other minor words. • However……..things are a little different in science.

41. Upper Case (Capital) Letters • Some journals use upper and lower case letters in the title of a paper, but some just upper case the first word • Apoptosis Associated with Deregulated E2F Activity is Dependent on E2F1 and Atm/Nbs/Chk2 (Molec & Cell Biology) • Modification of the ionizing radiation response in living cells by an scFv against the DNA-dependent protein kinase (Nucl Acid Res)

42. Upper Case (Capital) Letters • Usually the subsections use upper case on only the first word • Combination of scFv 18-2 and IR inhibits microcolony formation • Names of places or people or famous things use upper case for the first letter of each major word • Medical College of Georgia • Wuhan University School of Medicine • Statue of Liberty • Department of Medicine

43. Word Order with Numbers • If there is more than one adjective describing a noun, and one of the adjectives is a number, the number goes first. • The reaction contained 2 x 105 purified cells. • Not:The reaction contained purified 2 x 105 cells.

44. The End