Scientific English is a specialized form of English

Scientific English uses conventions that can be different from literary English.

The two main conventions

• Use active language (not passive) if possible.
  1. Experiments were conducted that show ….
     The experiments show … (preferred)
  2. Ten gram NaCl were added to the medium …
     The medium contained 10 g NaCl … (preferred)
• Use short sentences
  If a sentence is longer than two lines consider breaking it in two parts.

 

 

Other conventions

• “This / It”
  ‘This’ and ‘It’ generally refer to the word or the contents of the sentence immediately before.
• Do not use contractions but the long form:

  isn’t -> is not
  doesn’t -> does not
  haven’t -> have not

• Consider to substituting these words for the more technical terms:

  have -> possess/contain
  use -> utilize
  get bigger -> increase
  get smaller -> decrease
  bigger -> larger/greater
  more -> additional