There there, it's not that hard: Choosing between "thereby" and "therefore"

There there, it's not that hard: Choosing

between thereby and therefore

Scientific writing can be dense and difficult to navigate. Transition

words such as therefore, however, thus, thereby, and hence are

like signposts for readers, helping them make their way through an

article or grant and find priceless nuggets of meaning. If the

signposts are pointing in the wrong direction, however, the reader

can become hopelessly lost.

Take, for example, the adverbs therefore and thereby. Both words

are used to show the logical relationships between ideas, but there

are subtle differences between them. Choosing the right word will

make your writing—and the readers’ path—clearer.

Thereby means “in this way” or “by these means,” whereas

therefore means “for this reason,” “consequently,” or “because of

this.” In other words, thereby describes how something happens

and therefore describes why it happens.

If you don’t know which word to choose, try substituting “in this

way” for thereby or “for this reason” for therefore to see if the

Word for W

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sentence still makes sense.

Example: p53 initiates apoptosis in response to DNA damage,

________ maintaining cells’ genomic stability and suppressing

tumor formation.

To see if therefore is the correct word to use, fill in the blank with

“for this reason”:

Experimental substitution: p53 initiates apoptosis in

response to DNA damage, for this reason maintaining cells’

genomic stability and suppressing tumor formation.

That doesn’t seem quite right, as initiating apoptosis isn’t the

reason why p53 maintains cells’ genomic stability, but the means

by which it does so.

To see if thereby is the correct word to use, fill in the blank with “in

this way”:

Experimental substitution: p53 initiates apoptosis in

response to DNA damage, in this way maintaining cells’

genomic stability and suppressing tumor formation.

Now the sentence makes sense, so thereby belongs in the blank:

Correct usage: p53 initiates apoptosis in response to DNA

damage, thereby maintaining cells’ genomic stability and

suppressing tumor formation.

In the example below, substituting “for this reason” shows that

therefore is the correct choice.

Example: p53 maintains cells’ genomic stability by initiating

apoptosis in response to DNA damage; _______, it is often

called “the guardian of the genome.”

Experimental substitution: p53 maintains cells’ genomic

stability by initiating apoptosis in response to DNA damage; for

this reason, it is often called “the guardian of the genome.”

Correct usage: p53 maintains cells’ genomic stability by

initiating apoptosis in response to DNA damage; therefore, it is

often called “the guardian of the genome.”

Bibliography

Garner BA. Garner’s Modern American Usage, 3rd ed. Oxford

University Press; 2009: 810-811.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. Merriam-

Webster, Inc.; 2014: 1296.

—Amy Ninetto

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