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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Which patient (the article)?
Hello everyone,
I'm puzzled with 'the' issue in the following sentence, could someone help me walk through?
"The participants in the study were considered "low-risk" cardiac patients by demographics and presentation, with normal EKGs and negative cardiac enzymes, an indication that typically means the patient is not likely to have a heart attack" (source: ttp://www.ucsfhealth.org/news/2012/08/has_defensive_medicine_led_to_overtesting.html)
1: First, the text mentions about the unknown number of patients in 'low-risk' group
2: then, the next thing the text says 'the patient'.
Does the latter in singular form mean patients in general or patients of the particular kind just the text pertains to, I mean why 'the' and singular if the text is still on about 'low-risk' cardiac patients?
Sorry for posting lengthy message, but I would very much appreciate someone fill me with the lack of grammatica understanding for this simple sentence.
I'm puzzled with 'the' issue in the following sentence, could someone help me walk through?
"The participants in the study were considered "low-risk" cardiac patients by demographics and presentation, with normal EKGs and negative cardiac enzymes, an indication that typically means the patient is not likely to have a heart attack" (source: ttp://www.ucsfhealth.org/news/2012/08/has_defensive_medicine_led_to_overtesting.html)
1: First, the text mentions about the unknown number of patients in 'low-risk' group
2: then, the next thing the text says 'the patient'.
Does the latter in singular form mean patients in general or patients of the particular kind just the text pertains to, I mean why 'the' and singular if the text is still on about 'low-risk' cardiac patients?
Sorry for posting lengthy message, but I would very much appreciate someone fill me with the lack of grammatica understanding for this simple sentence.
Top answer
"the patient" is a generalized patient, one with "negative cardiac enzymes" (which are an indication, in a patient, any patient, that that person is not likely to have a heart attack). That is: If you have a patient with negative cardiac enzymes, he probably won't have a heart attack. So the paragraph is distinguishing between a patient with and a patient without this symptom.
- "the patient" is a generalized patient, one with "negative cardiac enzymes" (which are an indication, in a patient, any patient, that that person is not likely to have a heart attack).
- That is: If you have a patient with negative cardiac enzymes, he probably won't have a heart attack.
- So the paragraph is distinguishing between a patient with and a patient without this symptom.
- Does this help?
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3 Answers
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"the patient" is a generalized patient, one with "negative cardiac enzymes" (which are an indication, in a patient, any patient, that that person is not likely to have a heart attack).
That is: If you have a patient with negative cardiac enzymes, he probably won't have a heart attack.
So the paragraph is distinguishing between a patient with and a patient without this symptom.
That is: If you have a patient with negative cardiac enzymes, he probably won't have a heart attack.
So the paragraph is distinguishing between a patient with and a patient without this symptom.
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Hello Doctor D,
Quite amazed with the quick reply, thank you for time and attention on this question.
So, the patient can include not only 'these' (= low-risk as described earlier) but other similar patients, not limiting to these patients in the study but also those who has similar, if not the same, cnodition. 'The' is meant to represent inclusively patients with the explained disease cha
Quite amazed with the quick reply, thank you for time and attention on this question.
So, the patient can include not only 'these' (= low-risk as described earlier) but other similar patients, not limiting to these patients in the study but also those who has similar, if not the same, cnodition. 'The' is meant to represent inclusively patients with the explained disease cha
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