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20.3 use of articles a / an versus the 1. Use
a / an to relate one unit of measurement to another.
2. Use
the in measurements that begin with
by. 3. Use
a / an with
speed, rate etc. when such words are followed by a number.
4. Use
the with
speed, rate etc. when such words are followed by a noun.
A / AN THE 1, 2 Gold may soon cost
$2000 an ounce .
Gold is sold by the ounce .
3, 4 The disc gyrates at
a speed of 45 rpm .
The pulses travel outward at the speed of sound. 20.2 spaces with symbols and abbreviations 1. There do not seem to be fixed rules about whether to put spaces before units of measurement. Check with your journal’s style.
2. If the unit of measurement would appear alone at
the beginning of the next line, then remove the space.
3. When describing computer memory, the style is generally not to use a space.
4. Do not insert a space between a number and
st, rd and
th. YES NO 1
The patient weighed 65 kg / 65kg .
2 These rocks weighed up to
165kg each. These rocks weighed up to
165 kg each.
2
The temperature was – 20°C . This meant that the temperature was
– 20°C .
3 Ab 120GBb memory. Ab GB memory.
4
He was born on March 10th . He was born on March
10 th .
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20.4 expressing measurements adjectives, nouns and verbs Measurements using nouns can normally
be expressed in several ways, either with the verb
to have or the verb
to be .
1. When the measurement
appears after the noun, then use
of as the preposition (
a width of 2 cm ); if it appears before the noun use
in (
2 cm in width ).
2. Adjectives can be used instead of nouns.
3. The adjective can appear before or after the noun. Note the use of hyphens (
25.6
).
4. When measurements appear in brackets they are often not written as full sentences.
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