English Question

[Andy in Germany]

I occasionally get asked to check people's English, but this is a new one. Someone who has written a scientific paper wants me to check the title:

"Do roe deer show altered temporal activity patterns before and after wolf presence?"

One specific question is: "Is it grammatically correct for the question to start with 'do'?"

As far as I remember it is, but I may have forgotten something. Any thoughts?

 

[classic33]

Aye

 

[Ian H]

It's fine. Word order isn't as important as it is in German.

 

[Reynard]

I'm thinking that the word LOBE is missing from the title @Andy in Germany - as in the temporal lobe in the brain.

Otherwise, one might assume that these roe deer are partaking in time travel activities.

 

[DCLane]

Yes, although it's a dichotomous question as a result. That means the answer is 'yes / no'.

 

[PeteXXX]

'Do' is grammatically correct. The two words I seem to remember as a no-no at the start of a sentence are 'and' & 'but'.

 

[Ian H]

'Do' is grammatically correct. The two words I seem to remember as a no-no at the start of a sentence are 'and' & 'but'.

But it's also true that rules are made to be broken.
And especially the spurious ones invented by pedants.

 

[All uphill]

I would have said "following the presence of wolves", but the "Do" is fine imo

 

[Ming the Merciless]

How do you determine altered temporal activity before the wolf encounter? I presume they mean altered temporal activity, only after the encounter?

 

[Bazzer]

How do you determine altered temporal activity before the wolf encounter? I presume they mean altered temporal activity, only after the encounter?

Presumably if there is no temporal activity after the wolf encounter, the wolf won?

 

[OldShep]

Do is fine , just be very grateful it didn’t start with So 😏

 

[Sturmey_Hub]

It's fine. Word order isn't as important as it is in German.

Word order is more important in English than German. Consider the sentence; 'the dog bites the man'. Clearly, identifies the dog biting the man. If you write; 'the man bites the dog', then clearly it means the man is biting the dog. In German though, you can write, 'den mann beisst der hund'.

 

[Sturmey_Hub]

Forgot to mention, it's the article that's important here.

 

[Gwylan]

I occasionally get asked to check people's English, but this is a new one. Someone who has written a scientific paper wants me to check the title:

"Do roe deer show altered temporal activity patterns before and after wolf presence?"

One specific question is: "Is it grammatically correct for the question to start with 'do'?"

As far as I remember it is, but I may have forgotten something. Any thoughts?

It's a closed title.
Means the entire paper would be Yes or No depending on the result of the research.

"An overview and comparison of temporal activity patterns in roe deer pre and post wolf interaction."

 

[JtB]

“Do” is correct, it shows that the sentence is a question rather than a statement. In Spanish there is no equivalent to “Do” at the start of a question, instead a question is distinguished from a statement by the intonation of the voice. For written Spanish the start of a question would prefixed with an upside down question mark (¿).