3w. Words and Phrases Beginning with “W”

Well-trained: Well-trained nurses[Superfluous: The reader’s default assumption is always that the medical personnel who are involved in such studies are well trained; after all, unless you are pointing out that a particular publication is not reliable because the researchers who did it were unqualified to do such a study, you would never say something like poorly trained {nurses / doctors / laboratory assistants}, would you?] measured blood pressure 2 times, with Participants had their blood pressure measured twice with a mercury sphygmomanometer in a seated position, while sitting after at least 8 minutes of rest. using a mercury sphygmomanometer and an appropriately sized cuff according to standard protocol after at least 8 minutes of rest before the initial reading was obtained[Verbose].

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3t. Words and Phrases Beginning with “T”

Time-dependent manner: “in a dose and time dependent manner “[This is verbose. It can be more easily and clearly stated this way:] “dose- and time-dependently“: “MPP⁺ dose- and time-dependently induced FGF9 down regulation in a dose and time dependent manner in primary cortical neurons.”

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3s. Words and Phrases Beginning with “S”

Shown as: Data are {shown as/presented as} means ± SEM.[Both expressions — shown as and presented as are unnecessary and verbose: It is sufficient to use only Data are means…. ]

Suggest: These results suggest[Wrong term: this is your conclusion. Rather than offering the reader what the results suggest, it seems more appropriate to state a conclusion or to be more tentative and offer a hypothesis that you and others will be able to test in future studies] We {conclude / hypothesize [CHOOSE ONE]} [This example comes from someone’s Abstract. It’s the final sentence and the only sentence in the conclusion, so it should sound like a conclusion, not like a result.] suggest[Don’t use this word to mean hypothesize].

Suggesting: , suggesting (that)[This is strictly a matter of style, but I always change this to which suggests that simply because it sounds better to my American ear and seems significantly clearer than the original.]

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3m. Words and Phrases Beginning with “M”

Meanwhile: [This often misused word should be used only when talking about something that is going on at the same time as what the previous sentence or paragraph is talking about. It doesn’t mean “in addition” or “furthermore” or “moreover” or anything similar; it means “at the same time as X was happening, Y was also happening“.]

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3p. Words and Phrases Beginning with “P”

Played an important role: played an important role[Don’t use this dead metaphor. Bad (poor style) and bloated (verbose) language doesn’t become better just because everyone else uses it. It merely causes readers to become inured to its badness. Say something like this:] was important for…

Presented as: Data are {shown as/presented as} means ± SEM.[Both expressions — “presented as“ and “shown as” are unnecessary and verbose: It is sufficient to use only “Data are means…“. ]

Previous studies: Previous studies indicate that[This is superfluous. First, all studies that you have access to and can cite in your paper are “previous” — that is, they were done before yours. Therefore, it is unnecessary to mention this. Second, it is verbose: there must be a reference citation in the text when you state what these other studies indicate. That citation is sufficient to assure the reader that the claim is not yours but someone else’s. Unless you are specifically dealing with someone else’s study, either as support for your finding or as a study that made contradictory findings, don’t bother using an unnecessary introductory phrase such as this one. Just state the claim and provide the citation(s). The reader will know that the claim was made by other authors before your study.]

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3f. Words and Phrases Beginning with”F”

First: We for the first time[There are two problems with this phrase. First, it’s in the wrong place because it means that this is the first time that you have made this finding, not that this is the first time that anyone in the world has made this finding. Second, publishers and editors generally do not allow authors to make this claim. And because you temper your finding with the hedge-words “may be” instead of the affirmative word “is“, your claim of a novel finding is too weak to make. You might want to change the way this expresses your finding by stating your finding in another way, e.g., “We have presented (strong[I don’t know how strong your evidence is, so you have to decide whether to keep this modifier]) evidence that FMO-dependent neutrophil infiltration of the liver is a key factor in initiating TAA- induced hepatic injury. This contradicts the conventional wisdom that oxidative stress causes TAA-induced hepatic injury.” This more efficiently and forcefully implies the novelty and significance of your claim without being self-promoting (claiming a “first” is always self-promoting and usually best avoided] demonstrated found that FMO-dependent liver neutrophil infiltration may be a key factor in the initiation of TAA-induced hepatic injury. We have presented strong evidence that FMO-dependent neutrophil infiltration of the liver is a key factor in initiating TAA-induced hepatic injury. This contradicts the conventional wisdom that oxidative stress causes TAA-induced hepatic injury.

Further: To further[This word is usually incorrectly used and is almost always overused. Avoid it. It’s superfluous] clarify the role of….We further[If it is appropriate, you can say “also” instead] confirmed that….

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3m. Words and Phrases Beginning with “M”

Meanwhile: [This often misused word should be used only when talking about something that is going on at the same time as what the previous sentence or paragraph is talking about. It doesn’t mean “in addition” or “furthermore” or “moreover” or anything similar; it means “at the same time as X was happening, Y was also happening“.]

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Words and Phrases Beginning with “D”

Dose-dependent manner: “in a dose and time dependent manner“[This is verbose. It can be more easily and clearly stated this way:] “dose- and time-dependently “: “MPP⁺ dose- and time-dependently induced FGF9 down regulation in a dose and time dependent manner in primary cortical neurons.”

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3e. Words and Phrases Beginning with “E”

Effectively: Our results showed We found that inhibiting GSK-3 effectively[Wrong term: Meaningless] caused a decreased on NF-kB activation in vivo and in vitro.[This is a misusage of the adverb “effectively“. Its first meaning is “in an effective manner“. In this case, all that may mean is “GSK-3 {decreased/reduced/downregulated/inhibited} NF-kB activation“. To make “effectively” meaningful in this sentence, it is necessary to explain in what way the decrease in NF-kB activation was effective. The answer has to be that it prevented NF-kB from augmenting inflammatory activity by suppressing the binding of NF-kB p65 (Ser276) to the nuclear co-activator CBP. It is, therefore, sufficient to say simply that “GSK-3 decreased NF-kB activation“. The second meaning is “for all practical purposes; in effect“. This is not what the author wants to say in this sentence. The second meaning almost never has a place in medical writing.]Here is another very good example: “cPLA2, effectively[Superfluous because meaningless. I don’t believe anyone would write “ineffectively activated“; rather, they would write something like “PKC activated cPLA2, but the latter had no effect on XYZ.” Instead of saying “effectively”, which is an unnecessary modifier for “activated“, you must talk about the effect that cPLA2 had, but that isn’t the point of the sentence: cPLA2 activation is necessary for DAG to generate AA. If cPLA2 is activated but does not induce DAG to generate AA, then something else is happening—i.e., one cannot say that cPLA2 was “ineffectively activated“; one can say only that “cPLA2 was activated but ineffective“. I hope that the semantic differences are clear] which is activated by PKC, is required for DAG to generate AA.”

Enhance(d): “enhanced TNF-alpha levels “[This is a misusage of the verb “to enhance“, which connotes an increase in the quality and value, not the quantity, of the thing enhanced. Never use this word to mean “increased” or “raised” or “upregulated” or “augmented“; instead, use one of these four words, e.g.:] “increased TNF-alpha levels“.

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3b. Words and Phrases Beginning with “B”

Besides: Besides, [This term is best avoided and replaced with “also” in this sentence. Besides is not a formal word and is, therefore, usually inappropriate for this kind of formal writing.] We also examined the associations between…

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