Respectively
很多作者,无论其母语为英语或非英语,都经常会错误地使用“Respectively”一词。
”Respectively”是个副词,意思是“分别地、各自地、依次为”,经常在写论文时用到。
其实在行文时不使用这个词倒可能会更清晰一些,不过,如果在列举两组相对应的单项事物时,使用这个词的确有助于节约篇幅。
我们不妨来看下面这个句子:
“The latencies to withdrawal from a painful stimulus in control and transgenic mice were 3 s and 2 s, respectively”。
在这里,对照组小鼠的缩足反射潜伏期是3秒,而转基因小鼠则是2秒。如果我们描述的对象不是“withdrawal from a painful stimulus”,而是较短的词或词组(如,“average weights”),就不必使用“respectively”;
“Control mice weighed 20±3 g and transgenic mice weighed 17±2 g”要比“Control mice and transgenic mice weighed 20±3 g and 17±2 g, respectively”好,因为后者多了一个额外的词。
请注意,“respectively”一词仅用来表示两组或两个系列中单项事物之间一对一的关系。
因此,下面这个句子是不正确的,也无从理解:“The latencies to withdrawal from 5 g and 10 g painful stimuli in control and transgenic mice were 3 s and 2 s, respectively”。
“The proportions of monocytes positive for CD163, CD7 and CD11a were 45%, 63% and 70%, respectively”
(用“respectively”一词后,读者就能清楚地理解这3个百分比指代的是按相同次序排列的3个标记物)
数字
数字1到100、整十整百这样的概数需要全拼写出来,除非指数值单位,或是在叙述一个数值范围。
“The control group (three males and two females)…”
“Patients were administered 3 mg/kg TNF…”
“There were 5–10 patients in each group”
如果数字以及度量衡或时间单位出现在句首,数字和单位均应完整拼写。或者改写句子,不以数字开头。
16 species of whale have been added to the list of the world`s endangered animals. 【错误】
Sixteen species of whale have been added to the list of the world`s endangered animals. 【正确】
如果数字是英文拼写,其单位也要用拼写。
15 mL of buffer was added to the solution. 【错误】
Fifteen milliliters of buffer was added to the solution. 【正确】
“Thirty-three sections were cut from each block using a cryostat”
“Ten microliters of drug was administered to each patient”
“Drug (10 μl) was administered to each patient”
如果句首的数字超过100,为了表达清晰,最好改写这句话。
Three hundred and sixty-seven participants took part in the study. 【错误】
A total of 367 participants took part in the study. 【正确】
数字和单位之间应有一个空格 (百分号 %除外)
20 mg, 40 mL, 3 days, 15%
叙述量时用“of”,但是叙述浓度时不要用“of”
mice were given 50 mg of 3-NPA
mice were given 50 mg/kg 3-NPA
大于9999的数字使用千分位逗号
11,000 2,353,000
作者介绍
Daniel McGowan, PhD,
Certified Medical Publications Professional
理文编辑学术总监
曾任《Nature Reviews Neuroscience》副主编