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I'm helping to translate a math paper into English. There's this sentence that starts "By virtue of Remark 1, ...". The papers in the Google Scholar search results for the phrase seem to be overwhelmingly authored by non-native speakers. Does it sound strange to a native speaker?

The meaning of the sentence is something like "making use of the trick in Remark 1, we can simplify this a bit".

Alexander Pavlov
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It sounds fine to me. By virtue of is a common phrase meaning because of and you should find it in most dictionaries. See for instance dictionary.com. It's somewhat formal-sounding so you wouldn't normally use it in everyday speech, but in formal academic writing it's fine.

Nate Eldredge
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  • I agree that "by virtue of" is completely normal; but I'm struck by the metonymic use of "Remark 1" to denote the result or technique described in Remark 1. Is that normal in math papers? – ruakh Oct 28 '17 at 15:34
  • Yes, pretty much. I think "Remark 1" in such contexts is used similar to how "Theorem 1" would be. It's usually "by the Pythagorean theorem ", not "by the result of the Pythagorean theorem". – Alexander Pavlov Oct 28 '17 at 16:21
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"By virtue of" is correct and somewhat formal, but that may be appropriate for a math paper.

"Using the trick in Remark 1, we can simplify this" would probably be the most succinct way to say this.

Stevie Kideckel
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  • Welcome to English Language & Usage. Answers in this community are generally expected to show some research, and citations, if possible. Otherwise, answers will be no more than opinions. To do the best at answering, references are expected. I'm sure you will want to do this even though it does require more time. Thanks. – J. Taylor Oct 28 '17 at 15:52