Sentence of the Week #4

[From Michelle Yeoman:]

Editing Solution: Last Week’s Sentence

Thank you for reading this installment in our new series. As a reminder, below is Sentence of the Week #3:

Our results compliment those of earlier studies.

The sentence contains an error in word choice. Compliment relates to praise and can be a noun (“I love receiving compliments.”) or a verb (“She complimented my writing.”). 

Complement, on the other hand, relates to completion. It can also be a noun (“This book is a wonderful complement to the other books in my library.”) or a verb (“This watch complements my outfit.”). 

The two words sound and look similar but have different meanings.

In our editing sentence, it is unlikely that the results praise those of earlier studies. Complement is more appropriate in this context. The corrected sentence is below:      

Our results complement those of earlier studies.

Hopefully, this series complements other AuthorAID efforts!

Sentence of the Week #4:

The sentence below has 1 definite error:

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

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.