0
Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
The absorption of or absorption of water?
Hi. Please check if the words (with definite articles) are correctly used. Thank you for your anticipated help.
background fictitious scenario: Let us pretend they are conducting a basic experiment, whereby two plants, which are labeled plant 1 and plant 2, are put in translucent pots (which means people doing the experiment can observe what is going on). Also pretend that equal amounts of water is put into the pots at four equal time intervals.
Could we write our findings like this? I think we should try to produce precise data in scientific experiments, but let us pretend that imprecise wordings are acceptable (for the focus is to ask grammar questions)
... It appears to me that at four equal time intervals, the absorption of water(not absorption of water) by plant 1 took about four minutes.... It also appears to me that the rate of the absorption of water (not absorption of water) by plant 1 was faster significantly.
background fictitious scenario: Let us pretend they are conducting a basic experiment, whereby two plants, which are labeled plant 1 and plant 2, are put in translucent pots (which means people doing the experiment can observe what is going on). Also pretend that equal amounts of water is put into the pots at four equal time intervals.
Could we write our findings like this? I think we should try to produce precise data in scientific experiments, but let us pretend that imprecise wordings are acceptable (for the focus is to ask grammar questions)
... It appears to me that at four equal time intervals, the absorption of water(not absorption of water) by plant 1 took about four minutes.... It also appears to me that the rate of the absorption of water (not absorption of water) by plant 1 was faster significantly.
Top answer
"It appears to me that the absorption of water by plant 1" is the natural wording. ". .
- "It appears to me that the absorption of water by plant 1" is the natural wording.
- ".
- .
- the rate of the absorption of water" is correct, but we may also treat "rate of absorption" as a common technical expression.
- " I prefer the added "the," because "the rate of absorption of water" may be taken as describing some standard value.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
1 Answers
0
"It appears to me that the absorption of water by plant 1" is the natural wording.
". . . . the rate of the absorption of water" is correct,
but we may also treat "rate of absorption" as a common technical expression.
Thus you may also say, "the rate of absorption of water,"
or perhaps better, "the rate of absorption of the water."
I prefer the
". . . . the rate of the absorption of water" is correct,
but we may also treat "rate of absorption" as a common technical expression.
Thus you may also say, "the rate of absorption of water,"
or perhaps better, "the rate of absorption of the water."
I prefer the
0
Related Questions