This revision is from a dissertation by a Thai-speaking student of Occupational Health

The point here is not a large one, but it is one that seems very often to cause problems for my students: to mention something does not take long, and shows that it is not of central importance. Here, as the student confirmed, the steps for evaluation were not merely mentioned in the first chapter, but described in some detail.

For students who would like to have a little practice with the words mention and describe I offer the following short exercise based on authentic data:

1. The language used to __________ experimental arrangements and results has to be neutral with respect to the theories tested. (describe, mention)
2. In the exchange between Siegel and Relman, no names were ___________. (described, mentioned)
3. For Paracelsus and his followers, "chemicals" were inorganic materials. He used mercury to cure diseases and Debus ___________, in detail, his use of antimony as a purgative. (describes, mentions)
4. They say they are interested in greenhouse gases, but the article gives few clues to their thinking. For example, carbon dioxide is not ___________ at all. (described, mentioned)
5. In his paper, in 1929, Fleming ___________ the possible use of penicillin as an antiseptic in surgical dressings, but the matter was taken no further. (described, mentioned)
6. We __________ a model, based on our data, for the way in which MAP2 and tau crosslink microtubules. (describe, mention)
7. The light's spectrum can be ___________ in terms of a wave which is made by combining various amounts of different frequencies. (described, mentioned)
8. Every once in a while, when I __________ to students that I did my first programming with punched cards, and see the disbelief in their eyes, I am reminded how fast and how far computing has come. (describe, mention)
9. The first ____________ of Christmas Day, as far as we know, was in the Roman calendar for the year 354. (description, mention)
10. Any complete ____________ of an organism must include an account of its energy transactions. (description, mention)

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