The following notes discuss some of the common problems found in PHYS 480-1L written work.
- Write complete sentences, which contain a subject, a verb and possibly an object: “We started the counter.”
- Two sentences may be combined with “and” or with a semicolon “;” but not with a comma: “We started the counter and we recorded the results.” or “We started the counter; we recorded the results.” NOT “We started the counter, we recorded the results.”
- The subject and verb in a sentence must agree with each other in number: “We run the experiment” or “It runs without our help” NOT “We runs the experiment or “It run without our help”
- The first time you refer to a thing, its name usually has the indefinite article (a, an) in front of it; later references use the definite article (the): “We used a counter-timer. Initially, we set the counter-timer on its lowest scale.” The indefinite article is also used to refer to one of a class of things (not the particular one you are using).”A PMT requires high voltage to amplify small signals.”
- Note that “its”=”belonging to it” while “it’s”=”it is”.
- The subject and verb of a sentence are not separated by a comma. The exception is when there are two commas setting off an explanation of a word (an apositive). “The scintillator produces flashes of light.” or”The scintillator, a plastic material, produces flashes of light.” NOT“The scintillator, produces flashes of light.” (This usually happens in much more complicated sentences, where it is harder to detect.)
- The word “affect” is a verb but “effect” is a noun. “The counting rate may affect the efficiency.” “The effect is hard to calculate.”
- Use “an” before any word beginning with a vowel sound, such as many letter names. “We used an LED.” (The letter “L” is pronounced “ell”.)
Extensively borrowed from Prof Mike Peters)