The document provides guidelines for writing scientific papers in English, particularly focused on the differences between American and British English and various grammatical rules to enhance clarity and precision. It includes 'ten commandments' for grammar, misuses of words, tense usage, and the importance of active voice, punctuation, and proper noun usage. Additionally, it offers tips on articles, conjunctions, and the nuances of mathematics and punctuation in scientific writing.

1. English
in scientific papers

2. A word of introduction
Since English is not our native language, we
are bound to encounter many obstacles when
writing in English.
While writing, keep in mind that many readers
(addressees of the paper) are non-native
speakers of English too.
How to make your and your readers’ lives
easier?
Use simple indicative sentences.

3. American English/British English
Here, we focus on two major varieties of
English, i.e. American and British English.
The differences between these two become
most apparent when it comes to spelling:
e.g. meter – metre, analyze – analyse,
aluminum – aluminium.
Prior to writing a paper, it is worth checking
which variety is preferred by the given journal
(consult the instructions for authors).

4. The Ten Commandments
1. pronoun (e.g. she/he/it, his/her/their) must
agree with its antecedent;
2. case is important, e.g. just between you and me
(not just between you and I);
3. a sentence should not end with a preposition
(e.g. on, off, of, into);
4. verbs must agree with their subjects
e.g. she has, they have;
5. don’t use double negatives:
 she does not have no money
 she does not have any money

5. The Ten Commandments
6. never split an infinitive
e.g. to go, to do, to write;
7. avoid clichés;
8. join clauses with conjunctions and
remember to check your punctuation;
9. don’t use hyperbole and methaphors;
10. avoid fragment sentences (such as gerund
clauses).

6. Misuse of words
• amount: refers to a mass or aggregate, it is okay
to say amount of energy, but it’s not okay to say
amount of surfaces (note: the word number goes
with countable nouns);
• and/or: avoid at all cost;
• case: jargon, and thus should be substituted,
e.g. in this case = here; in most cases = usually;
in all cases = always; in no case = never.
There is a difference between in the case of (in
the case of streptomycin = when streptomycin is
concerned) and in case of (in case of fire = if
there should be fire);

7. Misuse of words
• each/every: do not mean quite the same – every
puts into a group (is used to generalize), each
separates, e.g. We want every child to succeed,
but Each child will find his own road to success;
• it: this common pronoun can cause problems
when there is more than one antecedent, e.g.
Free information about HIV, to get it call 911;
• like: often used incorrectly as a conjunction, use
‘as’ instead
 like it was said before
 as it was said before

8. Misuse of words
• only: depending on where you put only, the
meaning of the sentence can change e.g. Only I hit
him yesterday (I and nobody else); I hit only him
yesterday (him and nobody else); I hit him
yesterday only (yesterday and no other day);
• quite: avoid. Deleting quite doesn’t change the
meaning of the sentence. Golden rule: quite is
quite unnecessary;
• varying: means changing, often confused with
various (different). For various concentrations =
for different concentrations. For varying
concentrations = for changing (non-constant)
concentrations;

9. Misuse of words
• which/that: which introduces a clause that isn’t
essential to the rest of the sentence; that introduces an
essential clause
e.g. CetB mutants, which are tolerant to colicin E2, also
have an altered... (all are tolerant). CetB mutants that
are tolerant to colicin E2 also have an altered... (only
those that are tolerant, i.e. not all are tolerant).
• while: used when a time relationship exists, e.g.
I noticed a police car while I was walking down the
street; when contrasting two pieces of information, it is
better to use whereas e.g. Body temperature of a dog
is..., whereas of a human being...

10. Tense
When a scientific paper (either written by us or
by somebody else) has been published in a
primary journal, it becomes knowledge.
Therefore, out of respect, we use the present
tense (simple present).
Your own present work (not presumed to be
established knowledge until it has been
published) must be referred to in the past tense
(simple past).

11. Ergo
Most of the ABSTRACT should be in the past
tense, because it refers to our own present
results; much of the INTRODUCTION should
be in the present tense, because it emphasizes
established knowledge; the MATERIALS AND
METHODS as well as the RESULTS should be in
the past tense, as they describe our present
findings; much of the DISCUSSION should be
in the present tense, unless we’re referring
our own present results.

12. Active and passive voice
In any type of writing, the passive voice is
usually less precise and more wordy than the
active voice.
Do not be afraid to use active voice and thus
to clearly name the agent of the action in the
sentence. It’s better to state: I/we/the authors
found than it was found, or this temperature
caused the following reaction rather than the
following reaction was caused by this
temperature.

13. Singulars and plurals
1. If you use first-person pronouns, use both
the singular and plural forms as needed. Do
not use the ‘editorial we’ instead of ‘I’. The
use of ‘we’ by a single author is outrageously
pedantic and unnecessary;
2. Quantities: you should say ‘10 g was added’
not ‘10 g were added’.
‘10 g were added’ means that the 10 g were
added 1 g at a time;

14. Singulars and plurals
3. plural noun modifiers are formulated as follows:
six volts -> six-volt battery,
ten miles -> ten-mile run,
hundred litres -> hundred-litre container;
4. singular noun (the so-called ‘group’ nouns) + plural verb
e.g. government/team/family are;
5. plural nouns that don’t end in ‘-s’:
e.g. formula -> formulae, phenomenon -> phenomena,
spectrum -> spectra, momentum -> momenta;
6. nouns that end in ‘-ics’ are usually singular:
e.g. mathematics/physics/dynamics is.

15. Nouns
1. Lack of clarity and verbosity result from use
of abstract nouns – therefore, instead of
examination of... was carried out you should
say we examined...;
separation of the compounds was accomplished ->
the compounds were separated;
transformation of the equations was achieved ->
the equations were transformed.

16. Nouns
2. Using nouns as adjectives – watch for too
complicated clusters of nouns, which can be
awkward and incomprehensible. Break them
by using ‘of’:
 the transmission coefficient determination
 the determination of the transmission
coefficient
3. Don’t be afraid to use of several times:
 the substances mixture temperature (unclear)
 the temperature of the mixture of substances

17. Numbers
1. From 1 to 9: spell out, ≥10: express in
numerals, e.g. three experiments, but 13
experiments;
2. EXCEPTION! With standard units of measure,
ALWAYS use numerals: 10 mL, 3 kg, 7 L, etc.
3. The only exception to the exception is that
you should not start a sentence with a
numeral. In such a case, either reformulate
the sentence or spell out both the number
and the unit of measurement.

18. Punctuation
1. Beware of commas – they can change the
meaning. Below are two versions of one
sentence. Are they identical? No!
Male-chauvinist version:
Woman without her man is a savage.
(A woman is a savage without a man)
Feminist version:
Woman, without her, man is a savage.
(A man is a savage without a woman)

19. 
Got any beef, jerky? = Do you sell beef, stupid?
Got any beef jerky? = Do you have dried beef?

20. Paraphrasing
Three techniques:
1. looking for synonyms e.g.
studies -> research, discoveries -> findings;
2. changing word class e.g.
in the mountains -> in mountainous regions;
3. changing word order e.g.
Ancient Egypt collapsed ->
the collapse of Egyptian society began…

21. List of useful synonyms
Nouns Verbs
goal target reduce decrease
study research achieve accomplish
results findings change alter, vary
area field examine evaluate, study
benefit advantage claim suggest
category type, kind clarify explain
component part focus concentrate
concept idea limit confine
controversy argument show demonstrate
increase expansion, rise remove eliminate
method approach predict forecast
method technique strengthen reinforce
quotation citation speed up accelerate
drawback disadvantage cut reduce

22. Cause and effect
Let’s assume that cause = heavy rain, and
effect = flooding.
We can express the relationship between them
in a variety of ways:
 Heavy rain causes flooding.
 Heavy rain leads to flooding.
 Heavy rain results in flooding.
 Heavy rain produces flooding.

23. Cause and effect
Conjunctions worth remembering:
Cause Effect
because (of) so
since therefore
as consequently
owing to which is why
due to
e.g. Because of heavy rain, the flooding was severe.
As/Since it rained heavily, the flooding was severe.
Due to heavy rain, the flooding was severe.

24. Giving examples
Examples can be given in the following ways:
• Many departments, for instance/for example
physics, offer interesting courses.
• A few courses, such as/e.g. MBA, require
previous knowledge.
• Many universities, particularly/especially UK
ones, ask for language certificates.
• Certain departments have more candidates
than others. A case in point is medicine.

25. Useful abbreviations
Watch out for their notation (periods, spaces, italics):
 cf. = compare
 e.g. = for example (without spaces)
 i.e. = that is (without spaces)
 Fig. = figure (usually with a capital F)
 et al. = and others (no dot after et, italicize)
 ibid. = there
 p.a. = yearly (without spaces)
 p. = page; pp. = pages
 viz. = that is, namely

26. Describing changes
In the course of an experiment, many factors are
subject to changes. It’s worth knowing how to
describe them, e.g. using adverbs:
small change medium change large change
gradually substantially quickly
slightly significantly sharply
marginally steadily dramatically
slowly considerably rapidly
negligibly

27. Adverbs
These adverbs often come in handy:
ENG
recently
increasingly
presently
currently
originally
clearly
obviously
(not) surprisingly
alternatively
similarly
(more) importantly

28. Articles
Almost all non-native speakers of English have
problems with articles. There are several simple
rules to make your lives easier.
In general, the is used with:
a) superlatives (the most interesting);
b) time periods (the nineteenth century, the
1970s);
c) unique things (the government, the Finite
Element Method, the Sun, the Earth);

29. Articles
The is used with:
d) regions and rivers (the South, the River Trent);
e) very well-known people and things (the Scottish
physicist Watt);
f) institutions (the World Health Organization);
g) positions (the middle);
Tip: Expressions such as something of something
e.g. the end of this long lecture usually begin with
the.

30. Articles
The is not used with:
h) names of countries, except for the UK, the
USA, the Netherlands (and a few others);
i) abstract nouns (poverty, love, imagination);
j) companies/institutions/bodies named after
people/places (Sheffield University),
k) things that are not unique:
an iterative method (one of many).

31. Articles
When in doubt, consult Google Scholar:
If you have doubts whether
something was obtained by
‘molecular dynamics’, ‘the molecular
 dynamics’ or ‘a molecular dynamics’,
check other people’s choices.
1730 people opted for no article.
Only 233 people chose ‘the’, mostly in fixed expressions such as ‘the molecular dynamics
technique’, ‘the molecular dynamics simulation’, ‘the molecular dynamics run’.
Only 122 people chose ‘a’, mostly in expressions such as ‘a molecular dynamics approach’.

32. Conjunctions
Conjunctions are indispensable for expressing
logical relationships in scientific papers. When
used correctly, they demonstrate a good grasp
of English.
Conjunctions worth knowing:
a) addition: Furthermore/Moreover/What is
more, child mortality rates must be examined.
b) result: Prices are rising worldwide, and
thus/therefore/hence the investors buy more.

33. Conjunctions
Conjunctions worth knowing:
c) reason: Due to/owing to its properties, this
metal is commonly used…
d) order: Firstly/First of all, we investigated this...
e) opposition: Although/Even though/despite the
fact that/in spite of the fact that this study
concentrates mainly on...

34. Italics
When are italics used?
a) Foreign words and expressions (mostly Latin):
in vivo, in vitro, in silico, in vacuo, in toto, ab initio, ex nihilo, et al., ansatz, …
b) To emphasize something that the reader
should notice:
We stress that any zero-temperature approach suffers from this problem.
In text that is already italicized, we emphasize by
de-italicizing a word/expression/sentence.

35. Italics
When are italics used?
c) In symbols used to denote variables and
constants, both in the text and in formulas:
The reference temperature was T0=300 K.
We obtained the solution x=2.
We consider points xi, where i<10.
The coordinate can be found by solving cos x=1.

36. Italics
When are italics not used?
a) Text in italics should never be in bold or
underlined. In formulas, we can sometimes
find symbols both in bold and in italics.
b) Formulas: never italicize numbers, standard
functions (sin, cos, exp, Re, sgn,…), operators (lim,
sup, min,…), Greek letters (usually), and ‘d’ in the
differential (this is sometimes done in the US).
Thus, x=1.3, whereas α=2.0.
The function f is defined as f(x)=arc cos 4x.
The derivative df/dh is undefined in this case.

37. Mathematics
Knows no bounds, but certain conventions are
not international.
a) Scalar multiplication should not be denoted by a dot.
The dot should either be omitted or replaced by ×
(note that this symbol is different from the letter x).
 Distance in uniform motion can be calculated as s=v·t.
 Distance in uniform motion can be calculated as s=vt.
 The speed of light is c=2.9979·108 m/s.
 The speed of light is c=2.9979×108 m/s.

38. Mathematics
Cont.
b) The decimal mark is denoted by a dot.
 The speed of light is c=2,9979×108 m/s.
 The speed of light is c=2.9979×108 m/s.
c) Tangents and cotangents should be denoted with
‘tan’ and ‘cot’:
 x=tg π.
 x=tan π.
d) When describing an axis on a graph, the units should
be put in round brackets, not in square brackets.
 Velocity of the particle, v [m/s].
 Velocity of the particle, v (m/s).

39. Punctuation

40. Capitals
When do we use capitals?
a) Names of organisations (Sheffield Hallam
University, Gdansk University of Technology);
b) Days and months (Friday 20th June);
c) Nationality words (Poland, the Poles, Polish);
d) Titles (main words only, do not capitalize
words such as the, of)
e.g. Different Applications of Nanotechnology

41. Apostrophes (’)
Apostrophes are mainly used in two situations:
a) to show contractions, e.g. It’s generally
believed (contractions are uncommon in
academic English, in a paper rather write It is…);
b) with possessives (note where the apostrophe
goes), e.g. the professor’s secretary
(singular), students’ marks (plural).

42. Semi-colons (;)
Semi-colons are used:
1. when a comma would be too weak and a full
stop too strong:
e.g. Thirty people were interviewed for the first
grant; thirty-one for the second.
2. to divide up items in a list, when they have a
complex structure (e.g. contain commas).

43. e.g.

44. Colons (:)
Colons are used:
a) to introduce explanations
e.g. The meeting was postponed: the Dean
was seriously ill.
b) to start a list
e.g. Two factors were discussed: social and
cultural.
c) to introduce a quotation
e.g. As Einstein said: ‘God does not play dice’.

45. Quotation marks (“ ”/‘ ’)
In English, we use only upper quotation marks.
a) single quotation marks emphasize a word or
introduce quotations from other writers:
e.g. The word ‘quiz’ was first used in…
Goodwin’s analysis of habitat indicates
that ‘it will be more difficult to…’.
b) double quotation marks show quotations
inside quotations:
e.g. As James remarked: ‘Martin’s concept of
“internal space” requires close analysis’.

46. Discussion
Words useful for discussing the positive and negative
aspects of the results:
+ -
benefit drawback
advantage disadvantage
a positive aspect a negative aspect
a positive feature a negative feature
pro con
plus minus
one major benefit of… a serious drawback to…

47. Dictionary
It is good to have at least one comprehensive
(and up-to-date) bilingual dictionary, not
necessarily scientific or technical.
How to use a dictionary?
First, check the word you are looking for in a
STH-ENG dictionary, and then double check its
meaning with an ENG-STH dictionary in order to
avoid errors, such as ‘a spatial cubicle’ instead of
‘a spacious cubicle’, ‘favourite’ instead of
‘favourable’, or ‘sensible’ instead of ‘sensitive’.

48. Books worth consulting:
1. Robert A. Day, How to Write and Publish a
Scientific Paper;
2. Michael Swan, Practical English Usage;
3. Stephen Bailey, Academic Writing – A
Handbook for International Students;
4. Vernon Booth, Communicating in Science.

49. As a consolation…
 English can be challenging, even for
its native speakers 

50. THE END
Thank you for your attention!