Tuesday, November 16, 2004

continue the abstract for "Bugs in writing"

you should use "while" to mean only "at the same time as"; you should not use it to mean "whereas (然而)" or although

E.g. (exempli gratia) means "for example", and should always be followed by a comma
I.e. (id est) means "that is", and should always be followed by a comma
Etc. (et cetera) means "and so on", and should always be preceded by a comma
Et al. (et alia) means "and others"; you should use it only in reference citations -- do not use it as a substitute in text for "and colleagues", "and associates", or "and coworkers".
Use Latin abbreviations only in parentheses, however, do not use them in the regular text line (use instead "for example", "that is", and "and so on"). Do not set these abbreviations in italic type; use roman.
If you begin a list with e.g., do not end it with etc. -- both indicate an incomplete series, so using both is redundant

Define the abbreviation on first use, and use them always thereafter.
You should not capitalize the initial letter of a word that you are about to abbreviate unless you have a separate reason for doing so

Number spelling
you should spell out all numbers at the beginning of a sentence that follows a period or a colon
you should use numerals for all units of measure

Impact
You should avoid using impact to mean influence or effect

List
You should always use arabic numerals, rather than letters or Roman numerals, in an intext list

Like vs. Such as
You should always use "like" correctly to refer to likeness, or resemblance. You should use "such as" to indicate an example member of a group about which you are speaking. You should use"as" to indicate a likeness in activities.

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