Introductionで多用される英語表現

分かっていること Known

すでに確立している

It is now well established that developmental decisions can be overridden by artificial induction of combinations of “core” TFs that yield induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells or direct lineage conversion (Hanna et al., 2010, Morris and Daley, 2013, Orkin and Hochedlinger, 2011, Takahashi and Yamanaka, 2006, Vierbuchen and Wernig, 2011). https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(14)00229-3

証拠が増えつつある

Increasing evidence suggests that certain malignant tumors also depend on a cellular hierarchy, with privileged subpopulations driving tumor propagation and growth. https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(14)00229-3

分かっていないこと Unknown

わかっていない・明らかではない

However, despite extensive studies, many components of TLR and other biological networks are unknown, and many genes associated with disease have not been assigned to a function or a pathway. 　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(11)01270-0

It has been difficult to reconcile some of these opposing data, and it is unclear whether these two effector T cell populations are related to one another or are independent subsets with distinct origins.　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)01333-7

While most of the studies have focused on the biology of virus-specific CD8 TRM cells, basic questions regarding CD4 TRM still remain unanswered. For example: Where do these cells come from; What is the cellular origin of CD4 TRM cells; Which environmental signals maintain them into the tissue; and finally, Are CD4 TRM cells able to rapidly respond to a second challenge?　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30831-1

In contrast, mechanistic understanding of dietary modulation of small intestine (SI) physiology, where the majority of dietary exposures and interactions take place remains elusive. 　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31069-2

ほとんどわかっていない

However, the mechanisms and consequences of these multi-faceted interactions are still poorly understood. 　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31564-6

Which of the numerous cell subsets in a tumor contribute to the response, how their interactions are regulated, and how they are spatially organized within tumors remain poorly understood (Cardenas et al., 2021; Saltz et al., 2018).　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00945-4

まだわかっていない・あまりわかっていない

In the nervous system, although multiple families of guidance cues have been found in the last decade, our understanding of intracellular signal transduction mechanisms leading from the cell membrane to the cytoskeleton remains limited (Mueller 1999). 　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(01)00530-X

推測の域を出ない

Nevertheless, the true extent of TCR cross-reactivity, and its role in T cell immunity, remains a speculative issue, largely due to the absence of quantitative experimental approaches that could definitively address this question (Mason, 1998, Morris and Allen, 2012, Shih and Allen, 2004, Wilson et al., 2004, Wucherpfennig et al., 2007).　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(14)00476-0

理解が進んでいないこと

However, understanding the precise molecular mechanisms influencing progenitor cells is precluded by limited knowledge of stromal cell identities in the lung.　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)30864-4#%20

Mutations that cause TSC are spread over the entire sequences of both TSC1 and TSC2 (26,–29), but mechanistic understanding of the functional consequences is precluded by the lack of biochemical and structural information. 引用元：https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5025687/

論争の的であること

議論がある・決着していない

The extent to which unidirectional differentiation hierarchies underlie tumor heterogeneity remains controversial (Visvader and Lindeman, 2012).
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(14)00229-3

可能性の提唱

This raises the intriguing possibility that sensory neurons targeting distinct peripheral sites may contribute differently to immune responses by engaging in local tissue-specific sensory neuro-immune circuits.　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31564-6

仮説の提示

戦略の正しさ

仮説は自然現象の説明に関するものが一般的だと思いますが、論文を書く際に自分たちの研究戦略の正しさを仮説として書くスタイルも見かけることがあります。

We hypothesize that mapping the routes toward tumorigenesis in precursors of MSI-H and MSS CRCs will uncover mechanisms that define the CRC cellular landscape and identify targets with diagnostic or therapeutic utility. 引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)01381-7

実験モデルを使うことの妥当性

only a subset of such genes is activated in response to a given signal. Thus, a central problem in signal transduction is how this specificity is achieved. 中略 An excellent model for studying this problem is provided by the virus-inducible enhancer of the human interferon-p (IFND) gene (reviewed by Maniatis et al., 1992; Thanos et al., 1993; Tjian and Maniatis, 1994). https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=0092-8674%2895%2990136-1

 

モデル動物を使うことの妥当性

ショウジョウバエ

Drosophila provides an attractive system to understand the logic of olfactory perception because flies exhibit complex behaviors controlled by an olfactory system that is anatomically and genetically simpler than that of vertebrates.　引用元：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(03)00004-7

関連する記事

論文執筆のための英語表現

1. “using” vs “by using” それとも”by”, “with”? 実験・解析の手段・方法を表す語句を正しく選ぶ

科学論文を書くときに気を付けるべきことは、自分の書いた英文に曖昧さがなく、どんな読者に対しても確実に一通りの意味、解釈しか許さない英語の文にすることです。そんなことは当たり前だと思われるかもしれませんが、いざ書いてみると、これが案外難しいのです。曖昧さがどのようにして生じるのか、その原因をいくつか考えてみたいと思います。

 

曖昧さが生じるmore

Women like chocolate more than men.

(http://www.helsinki.fi/kksc/language.services/AcadWrit.pdf)

.

「女性は男性よりもチョコレートを好む。」と書いてしまうと、「女性は、男性のことを好むよりももっとチョコレートのほうを好む」という意味にも、「女性と男性とで比較すると、女性のほうがチョコレートをより好む」という意味にとれます。日本語でも英語でも、二通りの解釈が有り得るため、曖昧さが生じます。

論文においては、文脈から明らかだから問題ないと思うかもしれませんが、それまでに書いてきた部分の文脈がすでに読者にとって明らかでなくなっているかもしれません。また、英語が堪能でない読者には不親切な態度です。

moreの使用が、文法的に2つの意味を生じさせる文例をもうひとつ、および意味を一意に確定させる書き方を紹介します。

‘… the starch yielded more glucose than maltose‘

 

say either
‘… than did maltose‘
or
‘… starch produced a greater yield of glucose than of maltose’.

(出典：Vernon Booth. Writing a Scientific Paper.Biochem. Soc. Trans. 3 (1) 1-26 (1975))

 

曖昧さが生じるalso

論文ではalso（～も）という言葉が多用されますが、これもかなり曲者です。なぜなら、「ナニナニも」の「ナニナニ」にあたる部分が主語を指す場合と、述語の部分を指す場合との二通りが文法的には有り得るからです。文脈で意味が一つに定まります。

He also went to China.「彼”も”中国に行った」または、「彼は中国に”も”行った」 (https://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/1657213.html)

下の例文では、述部が共通なので、alsoで対比されるものが主語だとがわかります。

Contestant Amanda Hammer Harris tells the judges that her father was Jack Hammer, who wrote “Great Balls of Fire.” Growing up, she didn’t know him, but they made up just before he died. Contestant Amalia Watty also didn’t know her dad; she moved from Anguilla to New York to be near him, but that didn’t work out, so she uses the pain to motivate her singing. (https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/opinion/2018/03/21/is-american-idol-a-singing-competition-or-a-group-therapy-session.html)

下の例文では、主語が共通なので、alsoで対比されるものが述部だとわかります。

Bacon notes that studies can be enjoyable, and they can also be useful (whether for developing critical thinking skills or learning something for one’s profession). But he also notes that if done too much, studying could lead to “sloth”— laziness (in other words, if all you do is study, you won’t make the time to apply what you’ve learned and use your knowledge in a positive way). Bacon also believed that certain subjects could enhance different abilities— for example, mathematics can improve concentration, poetry can enhance one’s “wit” (what we today would call a sense of humor), and studying history can expand one’s wisdom.

 

通常は文脈で意味が確定しますが、執筆者には明かなことでも、読者にとっては明らかでない可能性があります。「共通する要素」を指すのに異なる単語を用いてしまうと、曖昧さを呼びこむ恐れが出てきます。

 

同じものを違う言葉で言い換えるのは要注意

英語を書くときは、同じ言葉を繰り返すことを避けなさいと習った人がいるかもしれません。しかし、言い換えが読者にとって明らかでない場合には、曖昧さが生じるため読者は混乱します。常に同じ言葉を使うか、違う語句が同じものを指すことを明示しておく必要があります。

use different terms for the same thing, for example, building, construction, obstacle and bluff body for one and the same study object. Yes, in high school you were probably taught to avoid repeating the same words, and to use comparisons and metaphors, etc. Forget that. (https://www.elsevier.com/authors-update/story/publishing-tips/10-tips-for-writing-a-truly-terrible-journal-article　ダメな論文を書くための１０のコツ)

 

代名詞が何を指すのかが読者に自明とは限らない

代名詞のthisやitは、すぐ前の名詞を指す可能性が高いのですが、文脈によっては一番近い名詞ではなく少し離れた名詞を指すこともあります。その場合、どの名詞を指すかは意味によって定まるので、文脈が曖昧な文章の場合に、読みにくくなります。

対処方法としては、this単独で使わずに、this observation,やthis resultのように意味をさらに限定すれば、読みやすくなるでしょう。また、代名詞を使うことを避けて、繰り返しをいとわずに同じ名詞をもう一度使えば曖昧さが生じません。

 

 

論文はcrystal clearに書けとよく言われます。通常の読者だけでなく、そそっかしい読者、英語が苦手な外国人、英語のスタイルが若干異なる英語圏の国の老若男女、英語のスタイルやイディオムの意味が多少変化しているかもしれない100年後の読者、その研究内容に関する知識が無い人などなど、どんな人が読んでも意味が一意にしか定まらないような英文を書くことが大切です。

 

参考（英語の書き方）

1. Single words and phrases that we see and often have to correct (Astronomy & Astrophysics) よくある英語の語法の間違いと、正しい使い方　一覧
2. The most frequently troublesome words, terms, and expressions found in journal papers and manuscripts. (chem.ucla.edu)

 

参考(論文の書き方）

1. Liumbruno et al., How to write a scientific manuscript for publication. Blood Transfus. 2013 Apr; 11(2): 217–226. doi: 10.2450/2012.0247-12　PMCID: PMC3626472
2. Tips for Academic Writing and Other Formal Writing　Write what you mean, mean what you write For instance, we often speak informally of “going the extra mile”, “at the end of the day”, “hard facts”, things being “crystal clear”  …  if there was no crystal, do not write about its clarity.