Sometimes in the case notes in your OET writing, you'll see a question mark that indicates that the diagnosis is a provisional one. So, should you include this provisional diagnosis in your letter or not? How can you decide? We go over these questions and answers in our latest #OETLearnuary Challenge Video.
Transforming case notes into full sentences.
But perhaps, like our YouTube student, Jisna, perhaps you're wondering how exactly to write this provisional diagnosis up? Can you say, for example,
"He is suspected to have depression."?
Well, although the grammatical structure of this sentence is correct, we wouldn't use the passive in this way for this context.
If it was a set of criminal case notes instead of medical ones, we could say, for example,
"He is suspected of spying for the enemy"
"He is suspected of corruption."
"She was suspected of fraud."
While it's OK to use 'suspected' in this was for crime, it isn't for healthcare. Instead, we could say something like this.
"Depression is suspected."
In this way, we're still using a passive structure, but you could equally use an active one.
"I suspect he may have depression."
Well, Jisna and fellow OET candidates, I hope this helps. For more information about the passive, why not check our video which goes into some examples for you.