Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface to the fourth edition
- Layout of the fourth edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Problem: the illness
- Part II Solution: symptomatic relief
- 4 Technology, changing language and authority
- 5 Guidelines to clearer writing
- 6 Spelling
- 7 Is there a better word?
- 8 Superfluous words
- 9 Imprecise words
- 10 Superfluous phrases
- 11 Trouble with short words
- 12 Use of the passive voice
- 13 Consistency: number and tenses
- 14 Word order
- 15 Punctuation
- 16 Circumlocution
- 17 Words and parts of speech for EAL writers
- 18 Clichés and article titles
- 19 Constructing sentences
- 20 Further help with sentences for EAL writers
- 21 Drawing clear graphs
- 22 It can be done
- Part III Practice: recuperation
- Appendix British–American English
- References and further reading
- Index
17 - Words and parts of speech for EAL writers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface to the fourth edition
- Layout of the fourth edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Problem: the illness
- Part II Solution: symptomatic relief
- 4 Technology, changing language and authority
- 5 Guidelines to clearer writing
- 6 Spelling
- 7 Is there a better word?
- 8 Superfluous words
- 9 Imprecise words
- 10 Superfluous phrases
- 11 Trouble with short words
- 12 Use of the passive voice
- 13 Consistency: number and tenses
- 14 Word order
- 15 Punctuation
- 16 Circumlocution
- 17 Words and parts of speech for EAL writers
- 18 Clichés and article titles
- 19 Constructing sentences
- 20 Further help with sentences for EAL writers
- 21 Drawing clear graphs
- 22 It can be done
- Part III Practice: recuperation
- Appendix British–American English
- References and further reading
- Index
Summary
Words
ACUTE: see p. 49
ALLOW to or for?
Allow is a common word in medical writing and the mistakes that EAL authors make when using it are also common. The word demands detailed consideration because it flits between prepositions changing its meaning as it goes. Allow is usually used in the context of to let something happen, when it has to be followed by a direct object in English: We allow analysis immediately. Mistakes arise because, in some other languages, allow does not need a direct object and is often immediately followed by to.
An additional aim was to find an indicator that would allow to follow-up ovarian stimulation.
. . . the transgenic mice allowed to visualize the corresponding glomerulus and to stimulate with a known ligand.
These sentences are incorrect, and are cured by adding the direct object us: allow us to follow-up, allowed us tovisualize (used correctly).
The object in medical writing is often a noun formed from a verb by a suffix: – ‘ment’ or ‘ion’ or ‘ing’; this last form is grammatically a gerund. In these cases the object is followed by of.
There is no specific questionnaire that allows evaluating treatment-induced changes in QoL.
The simple way to correct the grammar is allows the evaluating of . . . or (better) allows the evaluation of . . . , but the object of the wanted questionnaire is the changes not the evaluation. The sentence is better rephrased: There is no specific questionnaire that measures changes in QoL caused by treatment. (QoL is quality of life.)
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Medical WritingA Prescription for Clarity, pp. 258 - 284Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014