Using "of" between nouns
Is there a rule (or is it personal preference) that states whether "of" should or should not be used between two nouns as in "temperature appeared to have a greater effect on goldfish depth" vs "temperature appeared to have a greater effect on depth of goldfish" or "fish often move to shallow water to decrease risk of predation" vs "fish often move to shallow water to decrease predation risk". Other potential examples would be "risk of contamination" vs " contamination risk" or "emotions of human" vs " human emotions" I have written different articles using both formats (different formats in different papers) and have had reviewers criticize both. I am just looking for clarification and support for my response to reviewers in the future. Thank you.
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Unfotunately I do not believe that there is any easy rule to apply here. It seems to me that knowing the correct choice depends on having a mass of experience of the way that individual words and word combinations are normally used. As far as your specific examples are concerned: "temperature appeared to have a greater effect on goldfish depth" "temperature appeared to have a greater effect on the depth of goldfish" Both of these feel faintly odd to me.
- Unfotunately I do not believe that there is any easy rule to apply here.
- It seems to me that knowing the correct choice depends on having a mass of experience of the way that individual words and word combinations are normally used.
- As far as your specific examples are concerned: "temperature appeared to have a greater effect on goldfish depth" "temperature appeared to have a greater effect on the depth of goldfish" Both of these feel faintly odd to me.
- I would prefer something like "...
- effect on the depth at which goldfish swim".
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Unfotunately I do not believe that there is any easy rule to apply here. It seems to me that knowing the correct choice depends on having a mass of experience of the way that individual words and word combinations are normally used. As far as your specific examples are concerned:
"temperature appeared to have a greater effect on goldfish depth"
"temperature appeared to have
0purple grapeIs there a rule (or is it personal preference) that states whether "of" should or should not be used between two nouns
I'm afraid the news is quite discouraging. Take a look at the Ngrams (links below). It turns out that between 'risk of predation' and 'predation risk', predation risk is more commonly used; between 'risk of contaminatio
0"The temperature appeared to have a greater effect on goldfish depth/depth of goldfish." is not right with either form. Here the form has nothing to do with the correctness. This is simply incorrect usage. It should be something like: "The temperature appeared to have a greater effect on the depth that goldfish seek/remain at."
"Fish often move to shallow water to decrease risk of pr
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