0

Many drug leaflets for liquid dosage forms state how much of the active ingredient is found in 5 ml of the solution. Would it be correct to state it as "Each 5 ml of the solution contains..." or "Every 5 ml of the solution contain..."?

Here's an example from a British leaflet, and here's one from an American leaflet. Both use "each", but is it correct to refer to a quantity of 5 ml as a single unit?

tchrist
  • 134,759
Don_S
  • 231

3 Answers3

1

I have spent the better part of the morning trying to find duplicates which incorporate both usages, and the only relevant posts that I see do not address the OP on both issues..

We have:

each/every

and

verb agreement with units

I cannot find an exact duplicate on EL&U. However, both usages taken on their own are normally considered singular for verb agreement.

""Each/Every 5 ml of the solution contain..."

From MetaEd r.e. each/every

One is singular, so one of you is singular, so each and every one of you is singular.

From ect r.e. verb agreement with units

These constructions are called "mass nouns" (or something comparable). Although they refer to more than one thing (e.g., more than one milliliter of water), they treat these things as a single unit.

It should be:

Each/every 5 ml of the solution contains...

*Note that post "verb agreement with units" still does not have an accepted answer...

Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
  • 20,777
0

It's as correct to use '5ml' as a unit of distribution as it is to use 'a pint' as a unit of distribution of beer.

In the British system a pint consists of 20 fluid ounces so, talking of 5% ABV beer it would be correct to say that "each (or every) pint contains a fluid ounce of alcohol".

'Each' is used to concentrate on individual units of distribution (what each consumer of one unit gets) while 'every' is used to concentrate on the consistency of the manufacturing process.

The Cadbury chocolate company used to advertise it's milk chocolate bar by placing the slogan "A glass and a half into every creamy half pound" above or below a picture of glasses of milk being 'poured' into a chocolate bar. It's the same usage emphasising consistency.

BoldBen
  • 17,171
  • To me (and I don't know if the fact that English is not my first language drives me to think so) there seems to be a grammatical difference between 5 ml unit and a pint (or a pound), because those two are singular forms, whereas 5 milliliters is plural. Doesn't this make for a grammatical difference? – Don_S Nov 23 '20 at 11:18
  • @Don_S The point is that 'every 5 ml' is actually short for 'every 5ml measure' or 'every 5ml dose'. In terms of beer German beer is often sold in 300ml glasses so it would be appropriate to say "every 300ml of 5% ABV beer contains 15ml of alcohol". – BoldBen Nov 23 '20 at 20:40
-1

The problem is the otiose "each/every", which serves no purpose because it is impossible that some 5mils of the solution will contain more or less.

It is better to say "5 millilitres of syrup contain/contains 3400mg of sucrose" (it does not matter which - 5ml can be seen as a single unit or plural millilitres.

The solution is "One millilitre of syrup contains 680mg of sucrose"

Greybeard
  • 41,737
  • If the standard dose is 5 ml of syrup, you really shouldn't be saying how much 1 ml contains. – Peter Shor Nov 23 '20 at 00:29
  • 2
    The term 'each' is not meaningless, it is an implied statement that the liquid is correctly produced and, therefore, consistent in its composition. If the mixing process was not well performed then some 5ml measures would have a higher and some a lower concentration of the active ingredient. – BoldBen Nov 23 '20 at 10:41
  • @BoldBen, the question was about '5 ml of the solution' and the concept of a solution implies uniformity. – jsw29 Dec 18 '21 at 21:36