events that occur once every...

English translation: events that occur/occuring once every... years

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	events that occur once every... years
Selected answer:	events that occur/occuring once every... years
Entered by:	amj_services (X)

19:30 Jul 3, 2007

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Social Sciences - Linguistics / grammar question

English term or phrase: events that occur once every...

Case Study to be published in English-speaking country.
I'm doing the revision but would like to check some language issues with you ...

My concern here is with this phrase:
'...precipitation events that occur once every 5, 10 to 100 years'
'The space required for infiltration of precipitation was calculated for precipitation events that occur once every 5, 10 to 100 years.'
'According to research results, retention and infiltration of precipitation events that occur only once in 100 years is also possible without limiting the use of the courtyard'

Please explanations in English.
Thanks!!

amj_services (X) KudoZ activity Questions: 51 (none open) (4 closed without grading) Answers: 279 Germany
Local time: 18:11

events that occur once every

Explanation:
precipitation events that occur once every 5, 10 to 100 years' - events that take place once during this period.

The last sentence would be better as 'once EVERY 100 years'

Selected response from:

Jane Ashford (X)
Local time: 17:11

Grading comment

Thanks!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +2

events that occur once every

Jane Ashford (X)

4 +3

2 possible readings

Alexander Demyanov

events which occur, on average, once in five ... years

Refugio

3 +1

comment

Ken Cox

Discussion entries: 6

Answers

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

events that occur once every... (in this context)

events that occur once every

Explanation:
precipitation events that occur once every 5, 10 to 100 years' - events that take place once during this period.

The last sentence would be better as 'once EVERY 100 years'

Jane Ashford (X)
Local time: 17:11
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks!

2 hrs confidence:

events that occur once every... (in this context) events which occur, on average, once in five ... years

Explanation:
It is not guaranteed that the event will occur within any given five-year period; however, in a 100-year period, the event is likely to occur twenty times.

Refugio
Local time: 09:11
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 35

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

events that occur once every... (in this context) comment

Explanation:
I agree fully with Jane, but what bothers me about this text is the usage '5, 10 to 100'. Using a common in place of 'or' is common in (informal) German and Dutch (and maybe in other languages), but IMO not in good formal English. In any case, I would write 'every 5 years or 10 to 100 years' (assuming this is what is actually meant, and not 'every 5 years, every 10 years, and every 100 years').

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-07-03 21:46:27 GMT)
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And (to avoid possible misunderstanding) I also agree with Ruth.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-07-03 21:48:59 GMT)
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Oops -- make that 'using a comma'

Ken Cox
Local time: 18:11
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 47

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

events that occur once every... (in this context) 2 possible readings

Explanation:
I see 2 possible ways to understand the "5, 10 to 100" bit. The first is Ken's reading: a comma is used in place of "and". That is, the evaluation focused on two types of precipitation events: one occurring once every 5 years, the other - occurring only once in anywhere from 10 to 100 years.

Another understanding that seems possible, is that the calculations were done for events occurring every 5 years, events occurring every 10 years, every 20 years, every 30 years, and so forth, with the last category being events occurring only once in 100 years.

Otherwise it would seem that the evaluation didn't distinguish between, say, events occurring every 50 years and events occurring every 100 years. If that were the case, what would the conclusion ("...retention and infiltration of precipitation events that occur only once in 100 years is also possible...") be based upon?

Alexander Demyanov
Local time: 12:11
Native speaker of:

Russian
PRO pts in category: 30

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