Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[christina_nguyen]

"Drugs that contain phenylephrine are also safe and effective. The dosing is a little different -- you have to take them a little more frequently than the pseudoephedrine-containing drugs because their effects are not as long-lasting."

Is there such a word as "dosing"?? Will it be wrong to subtitute "dosing" with "doses"?

Thanks for answering!

[Mister Micawber]

.
Dose: (verb) administer a drug to. Here, the -ing form is used as a noun.

You cannot substitute doses because the verb is is singular. Singular dose would not really work either, because the passage is speaking of the process of administering the drug-- of a series of doses over the day or week or whatever.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's