In English, nouns have their singular and plural forms, and verbs also have their singular and plural forms, which should be consistent. Singular subject nouns should use the singular form of verbs (verbs), and plural subject nouns should use the plural form of verbs. We China writers are not used to English writing, so it is difficult to match without thinking. We need to pay special attention to avoid making mistakes, especially when the subject noun and verb are separated. Try the following example:
The sample contains a high proportion of peptides composed of amino acids.
The high percentage is the real subject, not the adjacent amino acids, so use the singular.
The sample contains a high proportion of peptides composed of amino acids.
To make things more complicated, English nouns are divided into different categories, one of which is called collective noun. It can be used as a singular or plural word. Collective nouns are singular as a whole, and each member is plural as an individual.
2. The relationship between modifiers and subject nouns should be consistent.
When using gerunds, participle short sentences and infinitive short sentences as modifiers, the verbs in the modifiers should be consistent with the subject nouns in the main sentence.
There are many such grammatical errors in sci-tech periodical papers. Strictly speaking, this is just a grammatical error, which generally does not affect the understanding of the sentence content, so many authors pay little attention to it. Editors and readers sometimes don't strictly demand corrections. For example, the following is an example of Volume 439 of Nature in 2006.
Using the enhancer GAL4/UAS expression system, the short-term memory traces caused by aversion and appetite olfactory conditions are distributed to the output synapses of the subset of intrinsic neurons in mushroom body.
1) gerund
After the purification, the activity of the isolated compound was studied.
We or I is the formal subject at the end of gerund, which is inconsistent with the subject activity of the main sentence.
After purification, the activity of the isolated compounds was studied.
Or: After the purification, we studied the activity of the isolated compound.
After treatment with this new drug, participants' blood cholesterol levels decreased by an average of 30%.
With the treatment of this new drug, the blood cholesterol level of the participants decreased by an average of 30%.
2) participle short sentences
Fenton reaction method was used to determine the iron concentration.
The iron concentration is inconsistent with the Fenton reaction method.
The iron concentration was determined by Fenton reaction method.
Or: We measured the concentration of iron by Fenton reaction.
When measuring the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it is best to collect air samples from distant places, such as islands.
It should be changed to: When measuring the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, air samples from remote areas (such as islands) should be given priority.
3) infinitive short sentences
In order to further investigate the potential role of cycling in infertility, more cyclists were investigated.
The formal subject of the infinitive phrase is us or me, which is inconsistent with the subject crowd of the main sentence.
In order to further investigate the potential role of cycling in causality, we investigated the expanding population of cycling.
In order to confirm the diagnosis, the doctor arranged a blood test.
In order to confirm the diagnosis, the doctor asked for a blood test.
3. The actions (predicates) of the subject and the subject should be logically consistent.
Because some Chinese and English are expressed in different ways, it is not necessary to translate Chinese directly into corresponding English. A frequently quoted phrase is "cheap price". Chinese can be said to be cheap, and English can only say that the price is high or low. Articles can be said to be cheap or expensive. When writing English in Chinese, the actions of the subject and the subject will be logically inconsistent. Pay attention to what the real action subject noun is when writing sentences. Here are some examples:
The highest antibiotic yield was obtained in 48 hours.
Not output, but output.
It should be changed to: the highest biological yield is 48 h.
The scavenging activity of hydroxyl radical is based on Fenton reaction.
Not an activity, but an analysis of the activity.
The determination of hydroxyl radical scavenging activity is based on Fenton reaction.
The pharmacological components of ginseng were identified.
The pharmaceutically active compounds should be: pharmacologically active compounds.
It should be changed to: the pharmacological active components of ginseng have been identified.
The pronoun and its agent's antecedent should be consistent.
Pronouns and their antecedents should be consistent in person, singular and plural, and gender. Some common pronouns are: he, his; She, she; It, its (singular); They, their, these, those (plural); That, this (singular). For example, in the following example, the compound is consistent with it, and protein is consistent with it.
Many related compounds were synthesized and their antiviral activities were studied. Growth hormone is a protein. It promotes human growth.
In the following example, should be replaced by their.
The potential antioxidant capacity of compound A and compound B can be inferred from the protective effect on oxidative stress.
The potential antioxidant capacity of compound A and compound B can be excluded from the IR protection against oxidative stress.
When using pronouns, it is necessary to be consistent and avoid ambiguous agency, so as to avoid misunderstanding because of not knowing the reference.
Dissolve the crude sample in water and extract it with organic solvent. And then evaporate to obtain that product.
Do you mean organic layer or water layer? I don't know. I'd better not use it.
Dissolve the crude sample in water and extract it with organic solvent. And then evaporating the organic layer to obtain the product.
Hormones are released during meals, and then the blood flow in the stomach increases.
It can represent both rice and hormones, which is easy to misunderstand.
It should be changed to: during the release of meat hormones. After release, gastric blood flow increased.
5, the focus of the position
In English writing, if you want to emphasize something, put it before the sentence. In Chinese writing, modifiers about the conditions and time of sentences are always put in front, while the main sentence is always put behind. In English, conditions or modifiers can be placed before or after. Putting it in front means emphasizing the conditions for modifying sentences. For example:
Most people had moved away before the hurricane came.
Most people had moved away before the hurricane came.
In English, both positional relationships are acceptable. The former emphasizes before the hurricane comes, while the latter emphasizes moving away. There is only one sentence in Chinese, and it is also wrong to say that "most people left before the hurricane came". Literal translation into English according to the positional relationship between Chinese is often inaccurate. It is also strange to translate into Chinese according to the positional relationship of English. My primary school children came home and shouted "I want to eat ice cream today, I haven't eaten it for a long time", which was directly translated into English "I want to eat ice cream today". I haven't eaten for a long time. "
In scientific writing, unless you want to emphasize conditions, you usually write the main sentence first.
Antioxidants play an important role in preventing complex diseases by scavenging free radicals.
Antioxidants play an important role in resisting complex diseases by scavenging free radicals.
In microbial fermentation, phosphorus is usually the main nutrient limiting growth.
Krill is the only main nutrient that restricts growth in microbial fermentation.
In the active sentence, the executor (author) of the matter comes first, which means to emphasize the executor (author) of the matter, not the matter to be studied. Passive sentences emphasize the things to be studied, which is one of the reasons why passive sentences are used more in scientific papers.
We studied their effects on cell growth.
Their effects on cell growth were studied.
6. Modifiers and modified words should be adjacent.
Scientific writing needs rigor and clarity. In order to define a thing strictly, restrictive modifiers or short sentences are often added. For example, when describing mice used in experiments, it is usually not just mice, but a description similar to "female physiological nude mice carrying NCI-H23 tumor". There are five modifiers in front to define mice for research. At this time, the narrowest definition is generally written in the front and the widest definition is written in the back. Modifiers should be close to the same modified object. Because modifiers and modified words are separated, there are many cases where meanings are confused. Here are some examples.
The inhibition of acid B on xanthine oxidase was also reported.
After inhibition, it should be xanthine oxidase, not acid B, which makes the sentence difficult to read.
The inhibitory effect of acid B on xanthine oxidation was also reported.
The chelating activity of acid B to ferrous ions was evaluated.
The chelating activity should be followed by acid B, not iron ion.
It should be changed to: evaluate the chelating activity of acid B to ferrous ions.
Reducing ability represents electron donating ability, which can be used as an important index of potential antioxidant activity.