{"id":2046,"date":"2014-01-16T14:16:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T14:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/scientific-writing-a-number-of-and-the-number-of\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T15:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T09:39:10","slug":"scientific-writing-a-number-of-and-the-number-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/scientific-writing-a-number-of-and-the-number-of","title":{"rendered":"Scientific writing: “A number of” and “The number of”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientific writing often poses a challenge to non-native English authors. While writing papers, authors often face grammatical problems. Let’s look closely at one of the most common one in this post. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is natural to associate numbers with the plural form. When talking about more than one of something \u2013 days, samples,\u00a0experiments, etc. \u2013 we tend to use the plural form of the verb, as in “the days were short,” “the samples were dried,” or “the experiments were repeated.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The expression “a number of” also belongs to the same category\u2014it is always followed by the plural form, as in “a number of days<\/strong>\u00a0passed” or “a number of people\u00a0were<\/strong>\u00a0present.” Do not be misled by the indefinite article\u00a0“a”\u00a0<\/em>in that expression: the expression is always used to indicate more than one of something and therefore takes a plural noun and a plural verb.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the expression “the number of” is different and always takes a plural noun followed by a\u00a0singular<\/strong>\u00a0verb because the expression is used to refer to the exact number that makes up a collection or a group. The expression emphasizes a precise quantity and is used when the exact number is more important than just the fact that there were many, as in “The number of plants<\/strong>\u00a0in each plot\u00a0was<\/strong>\u00a025″ or “The number of participants<\/strong>\u00a0was<\/strong>\u00a0greater in summer than in winter.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Looking to refine your research paper for successful publication? Check out Editage\u2019s <\/em><\/strong>Premium Editing Services<\/em><\/strong><\/a> and get submission-ready manuscripts<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"PES<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientific writing often poses a challenge to non-native English authors. While writing papers, authors often face grammatical problems. Let’s look closely at one of the most common one in this post. It is natural to associate numbers with the plural form. 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