English For Natural Science

A noun is a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are an essential part of language and serve as the building blocks for sentences. They can function as subjects, objects, or objects of prepositions in sentences. Nouns can be categorized into common nouns (e.g., book, dog) and proper nouns (e.g., John, Paris), and they play a fundamental role in conveying meaning and context in both written and spoken language.

Subjects (Nouns as the Doers of the Action):

a) The dog barks loudly every morning.

   - In this sentence, "The dog" is the subject. It's the noun that performs the action of barking.

b)  John won the race.

   - In this sentence, "John" is the subject. It's the noun that accomplished the action of winning.

Objects (Nouns Receiving the Action):

c)  She is reading a novel.

   - In this sentence, "a novel" is the direct object. It's the noun that receives the action of reading.

d) He gave his sister a gift.

   - In this sentence, "his sister" is the indirect object, and "a gift" is the direct object. "His sister" is the noun that receives the gift.

Objects of Prepositions (Nouns Governed by Prepositions):

e) The book is on the shelf.

   - In this sentence, "on the shelf" is a prepositional phrase. "Shelf" is the object of the preposition "on."

f) The cat jumped over the fence.

   - In this sentence, "over the fence" is a prepositional phrase. "Fence" is the object of the preposition "over."

These examples demonstrate how nouns can take on different roles in sentences, including being subjects (performing actions), objects (receiving actions), and objects of prepositions (governed by prepositions).

What is Biology

In simple terms, biology is the study of living organisms and their interactions with one another and their environments. This is a very broad definition because the scope of biology is vast. Biologists may study anything from the microscopic or submicroscopic view of a cell to ecosystems and the whole living planet.

Listening to the daily news, you will quickly realize how many aspects of biology we discuss every day. For example, recent news topics include Escherichia coli outbreaks in spinach and Salmonella contamination in peanut butter. Other subjects include efforts toward finding a cure for AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. On a global scale, many researchers are committed to finding ways to protect the planet, solve environmental issues, and reduce the effects of climate change. All of these diverse endeavors are related to different facets of the discipline of biology.

Biology is a science, but what exactly is science? What does the study of biology share with other scientific disciplines? We can define science (from the Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”) as knowledge that covers general truths or the operation of general laws, especially when acquired and tested by the scientific method. It becomes clear from this definition that applying the scientific method plays a major role in science. The scientific method is a method of research with defined steps that include experiments and careful observation.

We will examine scientific method steps in detail later, but one of the most important aspects of this method is the testing of hypotheses by means of repeatable experiments. A hypothesis is a suggested explanation for an event, which one can test. Although using the scientific method is inherent to science, it is inadequate in determining what science is. This is because it is relatively easy to apply the scientific method to disciplines such as physics and chemistry, but when it comes to disciplines like archaeology, psychology, and geology, the scientific method becomes less applicable as repeating experiments becomes more difficult.

These areas of study are still sciences, however. Consider archaeology—even though one cannot perform repeatable experiments, hypotheses may still be supported. For instance, an archaeologist can hypothesize that an ancient culture existed based on finding a piece of pottery. He or she could make further hypotheses about various characteristics of this culture, which could be correct or false through continued support or contradictions from other findings. A hypothesis may become a verified theory. A theory is a tested and confirmed explanation for observations or phenomena. Therefore, we may be better off to define science as fields of study that attempt to comprehend the nature of the universe.