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Basic Scientific Writing in English Lecture 11. Professor Ralph Kirby Faculty of Life Sciences Extension 7323 Room B322. Phases and Clauses. Including gerunds, infinitives and participles. Prepositional Phrases.
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Basic Scientific Writing in EnglishLecture 11 Professor Ralph Kirby Faculty of Life Sciences Extension 7323 Room B322
Phases and Clauses Including gerunds, infinitives and participles
Prepositional Phrases • These are phrases that consist of a preposition, its object and any words modifying the object • Prepositions are: • for, to, on, of, etc. • The object is a noun or a verb • The modifiers are adjectives • The phrase acts one of the following • Adjective or adverb • The phase can modify one of the following • Noun, pronoun, verb, adjective or adverb
Preprepositional phrases are not a particular problem except: • The choice of the prepreposition. • This can be a difficult choice for a an English 2nd language speaker. There are no real rules and experience is the only real way to learn why certain ones do not work • For/At/In/To dinner, he went for/at/in/to the most expensive restaurant • For dinner, he went to the most expensive restaurant • In dinner, he went for the steak • At dinner, he waited at the till for the bill
That the phrase should be a close to the object, noun or verb, as possible to avoid confusion. • This is simple to understand, but sometimes if you do not read what you have written, even I will not see the problem • A large mass of literature has not yet accumulated on SARS • A large mass of literature on SARS has not yet accumulated • The cells were spun down in a special microfuge because of possible infection • Because if possible infection, the cells were spun down in a special centrufuge
Any prepositional phrase at the start of a sentence should be separated by a comma to avoid confusion. • For the first time scientists have been able to use PCR to detect SARS • For the first time, scientists have been able to use PCR to detect SARS • Because of high mutability RNA is not a suitable information molecular for organisms other than viruses • Because of high mutability, RNA is not a suitable information molecular for organisms other than viruses
Infinitive phrases • This consists of “to” plus a verb and any object and/or modifiers • To pass any course, the student should be willing to study diligently • But should you split the infinitive • willing to diligently study? • This is a question of ”flow” and former feels better to me • But • To go boldly where man*/no-one# has gone before • To boldly go where man*/no-one# has gone before • *Star-trek #Star-trek New Generation/Voyager
If you fail to split an infinitive, you can completely jumble the meaning • I failed to completely understand questions • This means that you did not understand some part of the questions • I failed completely to understand questions • This means that you did not understand any of the questions • I failed to understand completely questions • This suggests that you do not understand the reason for questions • I failed to understand questions completely • This definitely says that you do not understand why there are questions • The rule against splitting infinitives is out-of-date
Gerund Phrases • A gerund is a verb with “ing” used as a noun • They can stand alone • Writing is my favorite hobby • I like to write because it is my favorite hobby • Or they can act as objects • Writing the paper was easy • It was easy to write the paper • Or they can be given an object and form a phrase • I enjoyed writing the paper • To write a paper is fun • But as you can see from above, they can be quite hard to avoid and keep the same meaning • Only a possessive form of a noun or pronoun should precede a gerund • His centrifuging can be noisy • That centrifuging is noisy
Gerunds get confused with participles • This is because present participle also end in “ing” • You can only telling difference by their use • The resulting precipitate was centrifuged • Precipitating is a process that occurs before centrifugation • The past participle ends in: • -ed, -t, -en, -n, or –d • SARS’s known morality is between 5% and 10% • Something that is completed • The perfect participle is formed with the help verb “have” plus a part participle • Having measured the mortality of SARS, we published. • The perfect participle places the verb only slightly in the past but with a completed action
For a closing thought on English and how history repeats itself with respect to SARS • A Nursery rhyme for England in the 14th Century • Ring a-round the roses, (The first symptoms is Bacillus pestis infection) • A pocket full of posies, (A bunch of flowers held over the nose to protect from infection) • A-tishoo! A-tishoo! (The symptoms of pneumonic plague) • We all fall down! (What happens after you get pneumonic plague)