{"id":1712,"date":"2014-01-24T10:03:24","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T10:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/scientific-writing-difference-between-namely-such-as-and-including\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T07:11:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T07:11:45","slug":"scientific-writing-difference-between-namely-such-as-and-including","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/scientific-writing-difference-between-namely-such-as-and-including","title":{"rendered":"Scientific writing: Difference between “namely,” “such as,” and “including”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using such expressions as \u201cfor example,\u201d \u201cfor instance,\u201d “such as,” and \u201cincluding\u201d correctly is important. What the expressions have in common is that they talk about some <\/em>members of a class but not all<\/em> of them. \u201cNamely,\u201d on the other hand, precedes an exhaustive list.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Consider a hypothetical experiment to test pesticides. You tested three pesticides, A, B, and C, all of them of the type known as contact poisons (effective when they are in direct contact with bodies of the target pests\u2014as against stomach poisons, which have to be ingested). And those were the only pesticides you tested. To mention them, you could rightly say \u201cthree pesticides were tested, namely A, B, and C.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, if you say \u201cthe pesticides tested included contact poisons A, B, and C,\u201d you give the impression that you tested more than three because the verb \u201cinclude\u201d is never used when all<\/em> members of the class are listed. Similarly, the phrases \u201csuch as,\u201d “for example,” and “for instance” signal that the list that follows is illustrative<\/em>, not exhaustive<\/em>. In discussing your results, you are likely to mention a few other pesticides, and you may write \u201cContact poisons such as A, B, and E are more effective than stomach poisons such as X, Y and Z are in controlling caterpillars.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Also note that if you use \u201csuch as,\u201d do not end the list with \u201cetc.\u201d   Incidentally, most publishers now recommend using \u201cnamely\u201d instead of the Latin abbreviation \u201cviz.\u201d, (for videlicet, the z<\/em> being the old symbol denoting the contraction et<\/em>).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Related reading:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n