Sentence of the Week #5

[From Michelle Yeoman and Barbara Gastel:]

Editing Solution: Last Week’s Sentence

Special thanks to those of you who commented on last week’s post. As a reminder, below is Sentence of the Week #4:      

In this study, we found out that adolescent drug use has lasting effects on memory and intelligence.

Below is the corrected sentence:       

In this study, we found that adolescent drug use has lasting effects on memory and intelligence.

In other words, found out should be found. Both found and found out have similar sets of meanings. But here’s the main difference in the current instance.

When one is looking for something and one discovers it, one normally should say found (not found out). Thus, you would say:

I found the book that I had lost.

I found the answer to the research question.

In contrast, found out tends to be used when one discovers existing information. For example:

I found out that my friend and I have the same birthday.

I found out that AuthorAID offers workshop grants.

We hope that you found the type of explanation that you were seeking. Maybe you found out something new.

Now, onward to this week’s sentence.

Sentence of the Week #5:

The sentence below has 1 definite error:       

Recent observations suggest that some birds were migrateing earlier.

Please correct the error, and submit the corrected sentence and any remarks as a comment on this post. I plan to post and discuss the solution next week.

Do you have a sentence that you would like us to consider using as the Sentence of the Week? Please e-mail submissions to Michelle at msyeoman@gmail.com with the subject line “Sentence of the Week”. Submissions should be your own work—don’t nominate a colleague’s writing :). 

Please also feel free to e-mail suggestions relating to this series.