[General] Health and Welfare

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Ashiuhto

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Is the sentence natural English?

The vice president of Ministry of Health and Welfare said, “Sulfur Dioxide (SO[SUB]2[/SUB]) could result in a pant. But the chemical in disposable chopsticks is a little, so it won’t hurt health seriously.”
 

bhaisahab

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“Sulfur Dioxide (SO[SUB]2[/SUB]) could result in a pant." What does this mean?
 

Matthew Wai

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This page says that 'People with asthma can experience increased airway resistance with sulfur dioxide ... '.
'Result in a pant' may mean 'cause people to pant'.

Not a teacher.
 

Ashiuhto

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Thank for Matthew Wai. The sentence means "Sulfur Dioxide could cause people to pant."
 

Charlie Bernstein

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Yes. Pant is a verb. Pants and pant leg are nouns that are about clothing below the waist, not breathing above the collar.
 

Ashiuhto

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Is the sentence natural?

But the chemical in disposable chopsticks is a little, so it won’t hurt health seriously.
 

Barb_D

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but the amount of that chemical in disposable chopsticks is so low that it won't pose a serious risk to health.
 

riquecohen

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Does the Ministry of Health and Welfare actually have a vice-president or is it a Vice-Minister of Health and Welfare?
I would say that sulphur dioxide can cause "respiratory problems."
 

Ashiuhto

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I revised the sentence as written:

Vice-Minister of Health and Welfare said, “Sulfur dioxide (SO[SUB]2[/SUB]) can cause respiratory problems. But the amount of that chemical in disposable chopsticks is so low that it won't pose a serious risk to health.”
 

Charlie Bernstein

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We would usually use either Vice Minister or Vice-minister, not Vice-Minister. If you're hyphenating it, only one capital is called for. And you need an article:

"The Vice-minister...."
 

Barb_D

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Generally in more formal writing you don't start a sentence with a coordinating conjuction like "But."
You can replace the period after "problems" with a comma and continue with "but the..." or you can change it to "problems. However, the ..."

I disagree on the capitalizatoin of Minister if you hyphenate. I suggest you look up how his title is used on offical Web sites and mirror that. Vice Minister or Vice-Minister. It's possible (though I think unlikely) that it would be "Vice-minister" as well.
 
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