The difference between incidence and incidents (grammar lesson)


Grammar Lessons \| Grammar Tests \| Common Grammar Errors \| Grammatical Terms \| Easily Confused Words \| Free Grammar Checker \| Search \| Contact Us incidence and incidents - the difference

Incidence is a proportion (usually of society in relation to a disease). An incident is an event.

Incidence

The noun 'incidence' is very technical and quite rare (unless you study the spread of disease). It relates to the chance of developing some new condition (usually a disease) within a specified time period.

Examples:

The chart 'Incidence of Flu by Area' shows the number of people with flu and flu-like illnesses who visited their doctor last week.

They suffer a higher incidence of measles as they did not invest in health-care systems to deliver vaccinations
effectively.

Incidents

The word 'incidents' is the plural of incident, which means an occurrence or an event.

Examples:

There is no evidence to link the two incidents at this time.

The police are investigating two incidents of someone shooting into occupied homes.

See also:

What are nouns?
What are verbs?
List of easily confused words

We need your help to improve Grammar Monster.

Do you disagree with something on this site?

Do you have any entertaining examples that would improve this site?

Do you have any pictures that would make our site more entertaining?

Please tell us
using this form.

Do you have a grammar question?

You can ask us
on our grammar forum.

Share Grammar Monster with others.

Grammar Lessons | Grammar Tests | Common Grammar Errors | Grammatical Terms | Easily Confused Words | Free Grammar Checker | Search | Contact Us