I suck at this. Dealing with Enterococcus/enterocci.

What are teh rules?

Capitalization
Italicizing
Plurarl v. Singular

Please provide examples.

The enterococcus/enterococci concentration was...
The enterococcus/enterococci concentrations were...
The level of enterococcus/enterocci was...
The levels of enterococcus/enterocci were...
Section Heading: Enterococcus/Enterococci Monitoring

I'm also dealing with nutrients (TP, TKN, NO3, NH4, TP)... so if a sentence was:

Groundwater at both study sites and the control site was monitored for Enterococcus and nutrient levels.

I wouldn't say "... nutrients levels", so I'd use Enterococcus, correct?
Same goes for a section heading... I wouldn't say "Nutrients Monitoring" would I? Thus use "Enterococcus Monitoring" not "Enterococci Monitoring"?

12/29/2010 8:30:18 PM

singular, lower case, italicized

Using your following examples

"The enterococcus concentration was" would be the proper way, since concentration is the noun and enterococcus functions as an n-bar and not the noun.

The same goes for "the enterococcus concentrations"

"The level of enterocccus was" since level is once again the noun and not enteroccus.

"The levels of enterococcus were" again see above.

And Enterococcus Monitoring as the section heading.

12/29/2010 8:42:23 PM

on this sentence "Groundwater at both study sites and the control site was monitored for Enterococcus and nutrient levels." it would be entirely dependent on the what the function of "level" is.

12/29/2010 8:58:57 PM

instead of making a thread, i would have googled a research abstract and copied their format--but this is how you and i differ...

12/29/2010 9:16:21 PM

thanks! level == concentrations in this case.

non-grammar question time. I must be brain dead

I have results in MPN/20 g Soil. If I need MPN/1 g soil, is it as simple as dividing by 20?

what if I want to compare this to concentrations of MPN/100 mL... I need equivalent units... thus...

MPN/20 g Soil / 20 = MPN/1 g Soil?
MPN/1 g Soil * g/mL (wet bulk density) = MPN/mL
MPN/mL * 100 = MPN/100 mL?

^I've looked through numerous articles from several sources. There were plenty of differences..

[Edited on December 29, 2010 at 9:32 PM. Reason : .]

12/29/2010 9:31:41 PM

I'm probably looking too far into what you are attempting to state.

[Edited on December 29, 2010 at 9:57 PM. Reason : .]

12/29/2010 9:55:46 PM

On second thought, I might be wrong on this one:

Quote :

""The level of enterocccus was" since level is once again the noun and not enteroccus."

I understand all arguments for it being either way. I would consult my advisor.

12/30/2010 9:50:29 AM

instead of "noun" the term is "subject"

because "enterococcus" is still a noun, it was just the object of a preposition

1/1/2011 4:28:52 PM

Actually, it is the noun of the noun part. "Subject" is the all inclusive statement for the phrase "The level of enterocccus..."

1/1/2011 5:08:42 PM

I was thinking of "subject of a verb" (or simple subject) rather than "subject of a sentence" (or complete subject), as explained here: http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/subject.htm

[Edited on January 2, 2011 at 1:50 AM. Reason : The distinction is more important in Latin, where even nouns have distinct cases.

1/2/2011 1:50:07 AM

The most important thing is it is the noun of the noun part.

1/2/2011 12:09:39 PM

make sure it agrees with the verb of the verb part lol

1/2/2011 1:00:25 PM

Do you really want to walk into my x-bar wheel house?

1/2/2011 1:12:22 PM

If'n you want, you can substitute phrase for part.

This is shit you won't learn in your blessed Strunk & White.

1/2/2011 1:18:58 PM

I do know more about grammar than those guys did; terms like "determiner" do not appear in there either!

1/2/2011 2:11:22 PM