10 ml are/is trasferred

English translation: 10 ml is trasferred

22:29 Mar 21, 2010
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Science - Chemistry; Chem Sci/Eng
English term or phrase: 10 ml are/is trasferred
Is it customary to say '10 ml of the solution ARE transferred to'.... or '10 ml IS transferred to'....? Linguistically, it should be plural, but what's used in scientific articles?
aromaded
Local time: 04:22
Selected answer:10 ml is trasferred
Explanation:
Uncountable noun -> singular, generally speaking
Selected response from:

English2Korean
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:22
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +710 ml is trasferred
English2Korean
4 +410 ml are transferred
David Russi


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
10 ml is trasferred


Explanation:
Uncountable noun -> singular, generally speaking

English2Korean
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:22
Native speaker of: Native in KoreanKorean
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Stephanie Ezrol
44 mins

disagree  Jennifer Levey: But the mls *are* being counted - there are ten of them --> plural.
1 hr
  -> There are ten (of apples) -> countable; There is ten ml of the solution -> uncountable in itself, but only countable in scale

agree  Claire Cox: I would use the singular verb too
1 hr

neutral  David Hollywood: I certainly wouldn't .... it's plural straight and simple :) Google hits are not the be all and end all of translation :)
2 hrs
  -> "ten gallons of water is" and "ten gallons of water are" (with quotes) in Google show, respectively, 45,800 and 11,700 hits; You are right, "Google hits are not the be all and end all of translation" but you can refer to as actual occurrences :j

agree  Karen Tkaczyk: Style guides are a better reference than google stats
4 hrs

agree  Gillian Scheibelein: Singular in scientific writing. Plural is commonly used in everyday speech and wrongly used by laypersons for written texts hence the large number of hits for the plural in Google
5 hrs

agree  Veronica Prpic Uhing: As Gillian explained - but I was transferring 10 or whatever ml
7 hrs

agree  Dr. Andrew Frankland: Absolutely, and I speak as the (former) editor of a scientific research journal.
10 hrs

agree  Maria Fokin: "10mL samples ARE transferred" but "(a sample of) 10ml IS transferred"
11 hrs

agree  B D Finch
11 hrs
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28 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
10 ml are transferred


Explanation:
Both are valid, but I would follow a logical pattern:

ten gallons are spilled, poured, transferred, etc.

ten milliliterS are spilled, poured, transferred, etc.



David Russi
United States
Local time: 20:22
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jennifer Levey: Both are commonly used, but 'are' should be used in this case since the mls are being counted (there are ten of them).
50 mins

agree  Jack Doughty
1 hr

agree  David Hollywood: absolutely :)
1 hr

agree  Lingua.Franca: absolutely. with David.
2 hrs

disagree  Karen Tkaczyk: If you know of style guides (UK or US) that say this is correct I'd be interested to hear of them. I thought singular was pretty standard.
4 hrs

agree  Rolf Keiser: we are speaking of millilitreS (plural) and not milliliter (singular)
9 hrs

disagree  Dr. Andrew Frankland: I'm with Karen, the ACS Style Guide is very clear on this point.
10 hrs

agree  Phong Le
1 day 2 hrs
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