Scientific English: A Guide for Scientists and Other Professionals

242 Pages·2011·1.16 MB·English

by  Robert A. Day

fi
Scienti c English

fi
Scienti c English
A Guide for Scientists and Other
Professionals
Third Edition
Robert A. Day and Nancy Sakaduski
Copyright2011byRobertA.DayandNancySakaduski
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsina
review,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Day/RobertA.,1924–
ScientificEnglish:aguideforscientistsandotherprofessionals/RobertA.Dayand
NancySakaduski.—3rded.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–313–39173–6(cloth:alk.paper)—ISBN978–0–313–39174–3(ebook)
—ISBN978–0–313–39194–1(hardcopy:alk.paper)1. Englishlanguage—Technical
English—Handbooks,manuals,etc.2. Technicalwriting—Handbooks,manuals,etc.
I.Day,Nancy.II.Title.
PE1475.D38 2011
8080.0665—dc22 2011016002
ISBN:978–0–313–39173–6
978–0–313–39194–1(pbk.)
EISBN:978–0–313–39174–3
15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
ThisbookisalsoavailableontheWorldWideWebasaneBook.
Visitwww.abc-clio.comfordetails.
Greenwood
AnImprintofABC-CLIO,LLC
ABC-CLIO,LLC
130CremonaDrive,P.O.Box1911
SantaBarbara,California93116-1911
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
To Joe, Barton, Robin, Sarah, Hilary, Matt, Ian, and Allie

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
1 PrinciplesofScientificWriting 1
2 KindsofWriting 7
3 WritingStyle 11
4 TheEnglishLanguage 21
5 Grammar 25
6 Words 35
7 NameWords(NounsandPronouns) 45
8 ActionWords(Verbs) 57
9 DescriptiveWords(Adjectives,Adverbs,andArticles) 61
10 FunctionWords(Conjunctions,Prepositions,andInterjections) 69
11 PrefixesandSuffixes 75
12 RedundanciesandJargon 81
13 Abbreviations,Acronyms,andInitialisms 89
viii Contents
14 Phrases 97
15 Clauses 103
16 Sentences 109
17 Paragraphs 121
18 Voice,Person,andTense 125
19 Punctuation 131
20 WritingforElectronicMedia 157
Glossary 169
Appendix1:PrinciplesofPunctuationPresentedPlainly 175
Appendix2:ProblemWordsandExpressions 185
Appendix3:WordsandExpressionstoAvoid 205
Notes 217
Index 219
Preface
Outofclutter,findsimplicity.
—AlbertEinstein
Good writing appears effortless. The reader is absorbed by the message and
not distracted by the author screaming “Hey, lookat me!” Words snap with
precision, sentences crackle with clarity, and paragraphs pop from the page
without a single wasted word. To the casual observer, the result looks spare,
evensimplistic.
Takeoneofthemostfamouspoemsofalltime,“TheRoadNotTaken”by
RobertFrost.Anotherwriter—ascientistforexample—might betemptedto
embellishitalittletomakethesubjectmatterseemweightierandtheauthor
morescholarly:
TheTransportationThoroughfareNotSelected
Anexploratorystudywasundertakentoevaluateatestsubject’spreferences
withrespecttotwotransportationpathwaysthatdivergedinaportionofthe
EasternDeciduousForest.Previousstudieshaveindicatedthatoutcomesare
affectedbyraceandstature(Tolkien,1937).Thetestsubjectwasallowedonly
oneselection,butwasgivenanunlimitedperiodoftimeinwhichtomakea
decision.Twopathwayswereintroducedandthesubjectwasaskedtoselect
one.PathwayAwasidentifiedasonecontaining>50%undergrowth.Pathway
Bwasdeterminedtobecomparable,butcontainedsubstantiallymorespeciesin
thePoaceaefamily(seeFigure1),indicatinglesstrafficpressure(Barleycorn,
1970).Afteratimeintervalof9.4minutes,thetestsubjectselectedPathway
B.Itisdoubtfulthatatimelimitwouldhavesignificantlyaffectedtheoutcome.
Atthefinalconclusionofthestudy,thesubjectwasquestionedregardinghis
choice.ThesubjectrespondedthatthechoiceofPathwayBhadmadeasignifi-
cantimpact;infactheobservedit“hasmadeallthedifference.”1Thissuggests