People on regular diet or diets

For the part you are concerned about...#1, I suppose. Definitely not #2 or #3. But the end of the sentence doesn't read well. I would say: "...are not likely to develop phosphate deficiency." Or: "...do not develop phosphate deficiency" is okay too, but I suspect you want the "likely" in there...

boron said:

Which one would you use?

1. Healthy people on a regular diet do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.
2. Healthy people on regular diet do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.
3. Healthy people on the regular diet do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.
4. Healthy people on regular diets do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.

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1. Healthy people on a regular diet are unlikely to develop phosphate deficiency.

4. Healthy people on regular diets are unlikely to develop phosphate deficiency.

Either is correct. The other two have problems.

Thirding the above -- #1 reads best, but the end of the sentence is hard to follow.

As a medical writer, I'd want to know how you define "a regular diet" before reading anything else

boron said:

Which one would you use?

1. Healthy people on a regular diet do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.

4. Healthy people on regular diets do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.

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Number 1 works well, as most have said. To me, number 4 is slightly better, because plural diets agrees more with plural people.

boron said:

In the 1st one "people" and "a diet" do not agree. Still, it sounds OK to me and to everyone else here...

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They do agree, so don't worry about that, but number four is slightly better.

Unimportant said:

"Regular diet" doesn't work for me. "Regular" for who or what? I'd suggest being more specific: "People on a typical Western diet" maybe? Also, "do not likely" is grammatically incorrect, as others have pointed out.

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It appears to mean regular as opposed to eating irregularly or sporadically.

Don't mean to go all defensive, but I didn't say they don't agree in number 1. I said "plural diets agrees more with plural people."

boron said:

Yes, I can use "are not likely to develop..."

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This is much better.

In my opinion, #4 is correct, #1 is perfectly acceptable and #2 and #3 are wrong.

boron said:

Currently I have: Healthy people on regular diet...because diet could be a mass known, couldn't it? Just like People with chronic kidney disease, in which disease is without s and without a.

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No; I don't think so. I see the similarity and understand the point you're making, but one (the kidney disease) is idiomatic and perfectly acceptable and the other "just isn't".

1. Healthy people on a regular diet do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.
2. Healthy people on regular diet do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.
3. Healthy people on the regular diet do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.
4. Healthy people on regular diets do not likely develop phosphate deficiency.

I agree that the ending sounds a bit awkward. ...do not likely develop... I'd say "are not likely to" develop phosphate deficiency. Or, "are not usually deficient in phosphate/s(?)" since a deficiency doesn't exactly sound like something that would be "developed" but something that would be taken away, kind of the opposite of developing anything, if that makes sense.

#1- No. The plural-singular there sounds like the healthy people all share the same diet. This would sound better, in my opinion: "A healthy person on a regular diet [is] not likely to develop phosphate deficiency.

#2- No. The missing "a" in "Healthy people on [a] regular diet..." sounds strange. It reminds me of UK speech, where they say someone is "at university" or "in hospital." It's not how people in the U.S. talk.

#3- No. "The" regular diet sounds like you are referring to a specific diet that has already been explained to us.

In fact, the word "regular" sounds a bit off, too. "Regular" can mean "typical" foods but also hints at the spacing of the meals, which seems a bit not what you mean. Other words that fit better might be typical, standard, normal, general...

#4- Yes. The plural "people" matches the plural "diets."

Also, when in doubt, I usually just do what Chase advises.

boron said:

Q: What is a regular diet?
A: A regular diet is one that does not include any dietary restrictions.

I was also thinking a regular diet sounds like eating on "a regular basis."

A healthy person who eats regularly is unlikely to develop phosphate deficiency.

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But "eats regularly" also sounds like the timing. I mean, you can eat at the same times every day ("regularly" in that sense) but still eat only popcorn or beets at every meal and develop [a] phosphate deficiency, right? How about "reasonable" instead of "regular?"


A healthy person on a reasonable diet is unlikely to...

A healthy person who eats reasonably well is unlikely to...

Regular sounds odd and vague to me too, why not balanced?

It'll also help if, whatever term you use, you cite the relevant guidelines that define what 'balanced' means -- are we talking the US food pyramid? The UK plate? For all I know "balanced" or "regular" could be a Mediterranean or Japanese diet.

boron said:

Hm, sounds fine to me...

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If you prefer to stick with the word "regular," then I think "on a regular diet" sounds much better than "eats regularly." "Eating regularly," to my mind, means the spacing of meals. "On a regular diet" at least also includes the issue of the content of the meals. But that's just how it sounds to me.

@EMaree- I agree. "Balanced" is more accurate than "regular," imo.

Ah, I see. Okay, one more try and then I'll quit nitpicking. Probably any number of different ways would get your point across just fine.

A healthy person on almost any reasonable diet isn't likely to lack phosphate/s.

boron said:

A healthy person who eats regularly is unlikely to develop phosphate deficiency.

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I think this sounds too like "a person who eats at regular intervals".

"Regularly" has a common temporal connotation, as well as a qualitative one.