Published on
25 November 2022
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
23 August 2023.
Discrete and discreet are two adjectives that are commonly confused. The two words are pronounced the same ([disk-reet]) and related in origin, but they have distinct meanings and should not be used interchangeably.
Discrete means ‘separate’ or ‘distinct’. It’s used especially in mathematical and research contexts as the opposite of ‘continuous’.
Discreet is used to mean ‘inconspicuous’, ‘cautious’, or ‘discerning’. It’s used in less technical contexts, usually to describe people, actions, and things.
Please be discreet about this; I don’t want anyone else to know.
The symphony proceeds through four discrete movements, each with its own theme.
The car’s color and design are discreet. It’s elegant, but it’s not flashy.
The patient passed through several discrete stages of illness before recovering.
It’s essential to be discreet in my line of work – you can’t just act on your first instinct.
TipIf you struggle to keep the distinction clear, a good rule of thumb is that discrete is mostly used in technical or academic contexts, while discreet is more likely to be used in a subjective way, making a judgement about a person, a behaviour, or a design.
Published on
23 November 2022
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
1 March 2023.
Bear in mind is a phrasal verb meaning ‘remember’ or ‘consider’. It’s most commonly used in the imperative mood (i.e., as a command or instruction), to remind or warn someone of something.
It’s usually followed by the conjunction ‘that’ and then a phrase describing the thing that should be remembered. It may instead take a direct object, in which case the object normally appears after the word ‘bear’, and there’s no ‘that’ phrase afterward.
Examples: Bear in mind in a sentenceBear in mind that these figures are only estimates.
If you bear in mind that a bad grade isn’t the end of the world, you’ll feel less anxious about the exam.
We aim to bear this principlein mind at all times.
Published on
29 October 2022
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
27 January 2023.
Second-person pronouns are words like ‘you’ that refer to the person or people being spoken or written to. Like first- and third-person pronouns, they are a type of personal pronoun.
The second person is used frequently in everyday speech and even in some formal speech and writing, but it should be avoided in academic writing.
Second-person pronouns vary less in form than other kinds of personal pronouns. You can see all the forms in the table below, with more detailed explanation in the following sections.
Published on
20 October 2022
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
8 October 2024.
Transition words and phrases (also called linking words, connecting words, or transitional words) are used to link together different ideas in your text. They help the reader to follow your arguments by expressing the relationships between different sentences or parts of a sentence.
For clear writing, it’s essential to understand the meaning of transition words and use them correctly.
Published on
17 October 2022
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
23 February 2023.
First-person pronouns are words such as ‘I’ and ‘us’ that refer either to the person who said or wrote them (singular), or to a group including the speaker or writer (plural). Like second- and third-person pronouns, they are a type of personal pronoun.
There are four types of first-person pronouns – subject, object, possessive, and reflexive – each of which has a singular and a plural form. They’re shown in the table below and explained in more detail in the following sections.
Published on
17 October 2022
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
23 May 2023.
A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun, often to avoid the need to repeat the same noun over and over. Like nouns, pronouns can refer to people, things, concepts, and places. Most sentences contain at least one noun or pronoun.
People tend to use ‘pronouns’ to mean personal pronouns specifically, but there are many other kinds of pronouns that are just as important to English grammar. The words highlighted in bold below are all pronouns.
Examples: PronounsI asked her if the headphones were hers, but she said they belonged to someone else.
It might rain tomorrow, but there isn’t much we can do about that.
These are the days that I like best.
Which of them do you prefer? Help yourself to whichever you like.
Published on
15 October 2022
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
23 February 2023.
Personal pronouns are words like ‘you’ that refer to the person speaking or writing, to the person they’re addressing, or to other people and things.
Like other pronouns, they are used in place of nouns to allow us to speak and write more concisely. For example, without the first-person pronoun ‘I’, you would have to use your name every time you wanted to make a statement about yourself.
Personal pronouns change form based on person, number, gender, and case, as shown in the table below, which you can also download.
An AMA in-text citation for a book consists of the number of the relevant reference, written in superscript. You can also add a page number or range in parentheses if you need to cite a specific part of the book.
AMA format
Author last name Initials. Book Title:Subtitle. Publisher; Year.
To cite a journal article in AMA citation format, you need an AMA reference listing the author’s name, article title (in sentence case), journal name (title case, italicised, and abbreviated), publication year, volume, issue, page range of the article, and DOI if available.
An AMA in-text citation for a journal article consists of the number of the relevant reference, written in superscript. You can also add page numbers in parentheses if you need to refer to a specific part of the article.
AMA format
Author last name Initials. Article title. Journal Name. Year;Volume(Issue):Page range. DOI or URL.
To cite a website or webpage in AMA citation format, you need to include the author’s name, the page title (in sentence case), the website name (title case), the URL, the publication date, and the access date.
An AMA in-text citation for a website just consists of the number of the relevant reference, written in superscript.
AMA format
Author last name Initials. Page title. Website Name. Published Month Day, Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL.
Zarefsky M. What sets back care for transgender students in the exam room. American Medical Association. Published June 24, 2022. Accessed September 9, 2022. https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/population-care/what-sets-back-care-transgender-patients-exam-room.
