Grammar: the essentials in scientific writings

1. Sentences

1.1. Subject: person or thing responsible for the action. More than one word: noun phrase

1.1.1. The articles and nouns

1.1.1.1. COUNTABLES

1.1.1.1.1. Definite: singular and plural article: “THE” (you know the subject you are referring to)

1.1.1.1.2. Indefinite: -singular: a/an (the subject is unknown) -plural: no article (the subject is unknown)

1.1.1.2. UNCOUNTABLES

1.1.1.2.1. Definite: the article "THE" (you know the subject you are referring to)

1.1.1.2.2. Indefinite: no article (the subject is unknown)

1.1.1.3. "THE" in proper nouns

1.1.1.3.1. ARTICLE "THE"

1.1.1.3.2. NO ARTICLE

1.1.2. Adjectivation

1.1.2.1. Adjectives precede nouns:" a large sample"

1.1.2.2. Avoid qualifying adjectives: "impressive, great, poorly, modest…"

1.1.2.3. Adverbs precede adjectives: "definitely confirmed"

1.1.3. Concordance: subject and verb need to agree in number: singular or plural

1.1.3.1. exceptions: -tricky singular nouns: two thousands is too much -only-plural nouns: news, draughts -irregular plurals: children, criteria -collective nouns: people, company, everyone

1.2. Verb: main action in a sentence

1.2.1. VERB TENSES

1.2.1.1. PAST TENSE: Methodology and Result sections

1.2.1.2. PRESENT TENSE: Accepted facts, general findings and for discuss your results

1.2.1.3. FUTURE TENSE: things that may happen in the future

1.2.2. PASSIVE VOICE: BE+PAST PARTICIPLE

1.2.2.1. USED when the subject is acted upon

1.2.2.2. USED because: a) It lets the facts stand on their own. b) Removes some accusations: who, how many… c) Presents logic.

1.2.2.3. CAN’T BE USED: -intransitive verbs -when the subject is the actor

1.2.3. More than a verb or a subject in a sentece

1.2.3.1. Subordinate sentences: join dependence sentences

1.2.3.1.1. Connectors: if, as, when, because

1.2.3.1.2. More connectors: - Reinforcement of ideas: also, in other words, in addition, for example -Change in ideas: but, on the other hand, however, instead, yet, in contrast, although - Conclusion: thus, therefore, accordingly, in conclusion, finally

1.2.3.2. Coordinate sentences: join equal sentences

1.2.3.2.1. and, or, but, for, so yet

2. Spelling conventions and accuracy

2.1. avoid mispelled words

2.2. before submit a document, do a careful screening

2.3. If language requirements are defined, comply with the rules

2.4. Taking into account the audience, choose English or American spelling, don’t mix them

2.5. Don’t hyphenate Latin or foreign expressions like an adjective

2.6. Divide words if necessary

2.7. No contractions

2.8. Use nonbreaking spaces and hyphens

2.9. Capitalized words: proper nouns, titles, first words in sentences

2.10. Define abbreviations the first time, the rest use abbreviations except in: titles, abstracts and at the beginning of a sentence

2.11. check your grammar, spelling and punctuation: use a spellchecker, a dictionary of scientific terms, don’t use unnecessary commas and proofread the document