SPOT THE ERROR
The affect of the study had an effect on clinical care.
What is: The affect of the study had an effect on clinical care. (Affect is a verb and effect is a noun.)
What type of dash is needed here?
Children aged 4–10 are included in this study.
An en-dash. It's used for ranges of numbers. It's longer than hyphens and shorter than em-dashes.
Our first specific aim is to retrospectively assess outcomes in patients with this ICD-10 diagnosis.
What is a split infinitive?
We pulled EHR records to categorize race and ethnicity (i.e., Black, White) and all clinical codes for heart failure (e.g., CVD).
What is: Improper use of i.e., and e.g.? I.e., means id est (that is) and is for a comprehensive list; e.g., means exemplia gratia (for example) and is just a sample.
Is this apostrophe correct?
Fashion in the 1980's was exemplary.
No. Apostrophes are for missing letters and possessives.
An editor is trained to find mistakes, however sometimes errors slip through the cracks.
It's with "however", which is not a conjunction; it's a conjunctive adverb and either starts a sentence or connects two independent clauses with a semi-colon and comma. (Correct punctuation is: An editor is trained to find mistakes; however, sometimes errors slip through the cracks.)
What type of dash is needed here?
Our findings—in the first study of its kind—will have far-reaching impact.
An em-dash. It's used to denote a pause/clarification in language/concept. It's the longest dash; commonly used without spaces.
Driving to Pleasanton, my commute is much more pleasant.
What is a dangling modifier?
We completed recruitment including all relevant populations.
What is: Confusing use of "including"? In this case, "including" can be both a preposition or a verb. Suggest rewriting as: We completed recruitment, which included all relevant populations. Or: We completed recruitment by including all relevant populations.
Is this apostrophe correct?
Fashion in the '80s was exemplary.
Yes. What's missing here is the "19" of the 1980s. But be sure the apostrophe is not a single quotation mark; those are used only for a quotation within a quotation.
We will have at least two or three intervention arms.
It's "two or three". With "at least", you only need one number and, in this case, should be your lowest one.
Right or wrong use of a hyphen?
I am professionally-trained as a grant editor and never make errors.
Incorrect: Never use a hyphen with "ly" adverbial modifiers.
Jan went to the store and Sue picked out ripe peaches.
What is a compound sentence (two independent clauses joined by "and") missing a comma?
Patients in the intervention arm lost weight compared with those in the control. We compared outcomes of metformin use to GLP1 medications.
"Compared with" highlights differences of similar things; "compared to" highlights similarities of different things.
Is this apostrophe correct?
The study failed because it's results were not reproducible.
No. Apostrophes are for missing letters (contractions) and possessives--except not with possessive pronouns. Think of its as a cousin of his/hers/theirs/yours; you wouldn't use an apostrophe in those cases either.
We will forgo IRB approval to forego delays in protocol implementation.
What is: Forgoe? Forgo means "do without" so it's used correctly; forego means one thing goes before the other (dinner foregoes dessert) so this is incorrectly used.
Please add dashes and hyphens: The 3 part intervention includes 18 59 year old patients.
The 3-part intervention includes 18–59-year -old patients.
I have experience conducting comparative effectiveness research, clinical trials, and recruiting patients.
What is: lack of parallel construction?
The investigator could prove neither a correlation or an association.
What is: Improper use of correlative conjunction pairs? These are: either / or, neither / nor, both / and, and not only / but. (Also: Never use a comma with these pairs.)
Is this apostrophe correct?
Prior studies demonstrated that it’s not possible to test this hypothesis.
Yes. "It’s" here is a contraction of it is, so it does use an apostrophe.
We will collect qualitative data through interviews, then compare with EHR data to determine associations.
It's with “then”, which is not a coordinating conjunction; it’s an adverb and is used with a conjunction.
Also used as a noun (I haven’t measured outcomes since then.) or adjective: (We conducted a prior study with the then PI.).
Which hyphen is incorrect? Prior studies with smaller cohorts have low-quality data, but because KPNC's EHR is so comprehensive, our data are high-quality.
The 2nd is incorrect. Only hyphenate modifiers before a noun; not afterwards (e.g., a well-researched study, or a study that is well researched).
This editor helps with two types of documents; she supports proposals and papers. Successful proposals convince reviewers to fund a project: papers report methods, findings, and conclusions.
What is: The semi-colon and colon are swapped? A colon moves information from general to specifics: Use when you offer details in the second part of a sentence. A semi-colon connects two complete sentences; it’s used in place of a conjunction.
Define the part of speech for each since: Since 2000, physicians have since used antiretroviral therapies since patients have shown remarkable results.
1st is a preposition, used to indicate that a situation has continued from a time in the past until the present. 2nd is an adverb, used to indicate that another event happened at some point after another event. 3rd is a conjunction, used to introduce reasons or explanations.
Which apostrophe is correct? My 30 years’ experience working with Dr. Jones’ laboratory was gratifying.
The 1st is correct: “My 30 years’ experience” is a plural possessive. The 2nd is incorrect because “Dr. Jones’ laboratory” should be singular possessive (as in Dr. Jones’s laboratory).