作者：麦子（转载请注：解螺旋·医生科研助手）
审稿意见里最令人吐血的莫过于“the authors should find someone who speaks English as a first language to proof read the paper”之类针对英文水平的吐槽，我提心吊胆怕被要求补实验你居然说这个！
还别说，哪怕学得再扎实，你的旧语感仍有可能被某些英文语法的微妙之处颠覆。Cell网站的博客上列举了一些玄乎其玄的语法解析，来看一看，别再跟审稿人互相伤害了。
Between和Among的误解
自打接触到这两个词开始，我们都深信between用于比较2个事物之间的区别，among比较3个或以上。但事实居然不完全是！
通常情况下，根据上述规律来判断基本也对，但between并不一定只比较两个事物。其实当讨论区别时，总是可以用between：
The differences between these results were insignificant.
The height differences between the control group, family A, and family B are shown in Figure 2.
Between还可以表达一个事物和周围其他多个事物之间各自的关系：
The space between the three points is labeled "G."
The distances between the four locations are each more than a mile.（每一对位置之间的距离是单独测量的。）
Among则表示集合事物或模糊事物之间的关系。
It was difficult to choose among the many decadent desserts.（面对一堆甜点选择困难，这堆甜点就是个集合事物。）
Upon news of the paper's acceptance, celebratory cries broke out among the authors.（文章被接收，欢呼声从一群作者中爆发出来。）
但有时候看起是很多个事物，其实是两个：
The discussion was between Jane, Dave, and me and our coach.（这是两个主体之间的讨论，一个是Jane、Dave和说话者“me”作为一个集合；另一个是他们的指导员）
We delivered messages between the lawyers and the accountants all afternoon. （信息是在律师组和会计组之间交流，而不是在各位律师和各位会计之间，所以是两个事物）
Number和Amount傻傻分不清
大家都知道Number用于可数名词，Amount用于不可数名词。但有时候可数和不可数还是会有童鞋分不清。比如说：
Relative numbers of splicing events were assessed and quantified.
T cells are endowed with a great amount of cellular plasticity.
We found elevated amounts of serum immunoglobulin isotypes IgA and IgM.
剪接事件是可数的，可塑性是不可数的，所以剪接事件要数出个number来，而细胞可塑性则用amount来表示程度。
第三句就有点小滑头了。免疫球蛋白的亚类是可数，但这里是说IgA和IgM的浓度升高了，主体是不可数的浓度。
还有一种名词，既可作可数名词，也可作不可数名词，随语境而变，还得仔细辨析，比如protein：
It is likely that the second allele produced small but non-detectable amounts of protein in standard conditions.
As expected, we found that RIM knockout removed most of these proteins, although a significant number remained.
第一句是说某个等位基因产生的蛋白的量很少，测量的是浓度，此处蛋白是非特指的概念，不可数；第二句则是说RIM敲除了许多种蛋白，但还保留了几种，是计数了蛋白的种类，是可数的。
谜之主谓一致性
主谓一致性就是说，主语单数谓语也要单数，主语复数谓语也要复数。看着简单吧？做些题试试：
1.One of those disasters that often occurs/occur only in movies happened just as I got off the plane.
2.The first author as well as the last two authors has/have approved the proofs.
3.Getting my paper accepted in Cell and seeing it in the finished journal was/were the highlight of my career.
4.Either the children or the parent has/have to give in.
5.Not only the previously published papers but also the one under review were/was called into question.
6.More than one of the authors has/have received the Nobel Prize.
7.Ten dollars is/are not enough to get me to jump in the Atlantic Ocean in February.
8.Boston, and all New England cities, tend/tends to get snow in January.
9.Each of the editors want/wants to accept the paper.
10.A proportion of authors are/is at the conference.
看完答案气死你：
1.选occur，因为主语是that，而that指的是disasters。你最先看到的one的谓语是后面的happened。
2.Has，因为主语是一作。As well as后面的是附加内容，不算主语。如果把as well as替换成and，则算在主语内。
3.选was。此处把“文章被Cell接收并付梓”看成一件事。若非要看成两件倒也行，那就要写成were the highlights。
4.Has。用or连接两个主体时，动词是跟着最近的那个，所以如果children在后，就变成了have。
5.Was。同上，动词随着最近的那个主语。
6.Has。“more than one”虽然意思上是复数，但约定俗成看作单数，不服来咬我啊。同样的还有“one or two”，不过one or two接个复数动词也是可以接受的。
7.选is。“10刀不足以收买我干嘛干嘛”强调的是“这个价格”，而不是数出来10刀，意同“不为五斗米折腰”，八斗也一样，只是一个指代。还有些主语的单复数更令人吐血：“Physics is an interesting subject.”和“The physics of this contraption baffle me.”都是对的，细细品味吧。
8.选tends。用逗号把附加成分分开的话，逗号后面都不算入主语了。
9.Wants。用each作为主语时永远是单数，但如果它只是复数名词的修饰语，那动词就是复数了，所以本句也可写成“The editors each want to accept the paper.”
10.选are。“a proportion”是非特指，一部分作者可以是复数。如果用“The proportion”就成了特指proportion，是不可数名词，动词就成了单数，比如“The proportion of authors at the conference is lower this year than last year.”
like和such as竟然不一样
举栗子时最常用的like和such as似乎经常混用，但竟然还有微妙的差别。看这两个句子：
My uncle is allergic to most nuts, such as peanuts, walnuts, and cashews.
My aunt is allergic to most nuts like peanuts, walnuts, and cashews.
如果你认为作者很清楚两者的区别，没有用错，那么你应该理解为，给叔叔吃花生后果很严重，但给婶婶吃就可能没事。Such as后面跟的例子是包括在“most nuts”中的，而like则表示“类似，但不一定等同”。第二句话是说婶婶对大多数坚果过敏，怕你不知道啥叫坚果，举例子花生胡桃腰果这些就是坚果；那么婶婶对“大多数”坚果过敏，可没说一定是对花生胡桃腰果过敏啊。
不要用with冒充连词
With和And经常用混。And是个连词，连接两个并列结构；但with是介词，它需要指代某个成分，或描述某种关系。当句子结构复杂了，很可能会造成误解。下面三个句子都是错误示范：
The HOXB1 protein is composed of 301 amino acids with the 60 amino acid homeodomain located from amino acid 203 to 262.
Diagnostic evaluations, cognitive assessment, and phenotypic characterization were conducted at each site with data collection, entry, and validation methods standardized across sites.
The data suggest ubiquitous expression in all human tissue tested with relative abundance in fetal brain tissue.
严格来讲，第一个句子描述的氨基酸是从氨基酸203至262分布着60个氨基酸同源域；第二个句子描述的试验点是数据的采集、纳入和验证方法都是标准化的；第三个句子乍一看，似乎“with relative abundance”是描述人体组织是怎样检测的。
你读着费劲，是因为你的大脑在努力地暗中修复with造成的误解，初读感觉with后面那一段是作为从句描述它前面的一个词，等你的大脑倒腾完了发现前后两部分的语意是独立成句的。
实际上应该写成这样（当然也有别的写法）：
The HOXB1 protein is composed of 301 amino acids, of which amino acids 203 to 262 make up the 60 amino acid homeodomain.
Diagnostic evaluations, cognitive assessment, and phenotypic characterization were conducted at each site, and data collection, entry, and validation methods were standardized across sites.
The data suggest ubiquitous expression in all human tissue tested and a relative abundance of expression in fetal brain tissue.
参考资料：
1.A grammatical myth: Between and among
2.The difference between number and amount
3.10 tricky cases of subject-verb agreement
4.The subtle difference between "like" and "such as"
5.What to do with the word "with"
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