Redundancies YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED by FADZILAH AMIN MAY I know which of the two sentences is correct? 1.

She is working as a nurse./ She is working as nurse. 2. The victim was sent to hospital by an ambulance./ The victim was sent to hospital by ambulance. 3. Imagine having everything you ever dreamed of./ Imagine having everything you ever dreamed. Is it better to say ... youve ever dreamed using the present tense? Does it make a difference? 4. If we could have any dream, Id wish this moment was ours to own it. Is it dream or dreams? 5. Where are you taking me to?/ Where are you taking me? Jenny Yoong 1. She is working as a nurse. is correct. The article a cannot be left out in that sentence.

2. The article an in not needed in the sentence The victim was sent to hospital by ambulance. But if you change the preposition before ambulance to in, you will have to use the article: The victim was sent to hospital in an ambulance. 3. We need the of in the sentence. We dont dream something, but we dream of something. And youve ever dreamed of does NOT use the present tense, but the present perfect tense. It is better to use this tense in the sentence, because it carries the idea of duration: everything that you have dreamed of from the time you first began dreaming of having something, to the present. So the best sentence would read: Imagine having everything youve ever dreamed of. 4. It should be dream and you dont need the it at the end. Also, having a dream is one thing, and having it fulfilled is another. Perhaps you mean the following: If we could have any dream fulfilled, Id wish this moment was ours to own. 5. I dont think we need to here. Where are you taking me? should be enough.

Is or are? Which is correct? 1. There is an apple and an orange on the table; or 2. There are an apple and an orange on the table. Angela

The first sentence is correct, i.e. There is an apple and an orange on the table. My view is based on what Collins Cobuild English Grammar (2nd ed. 2005) says about whether to use is or are in sentences using there as its subject. It says that you use a singular form of be (which is is) when you are giving a list of items and the first noun in the list is singular or uncountable. (p.416, 10.50) Roger Woodham, the person who answers readers questions on the website of BBC World Service Learning English has the same view, and in explaining to a reader who asked why we say There is a chair and a table in this room. and NOT There are a chair and a table in this room., explains that in the first sentence, it is as if the items are being counted separately i.e. Theres a chair and theres a table in the room SO theres a chair and table in the room. Thus your sentence can be regarded as a short form of saying There is an apple and there is an orange on the table. However, we say There are five apples and an orange on the table. and There is an orange and five apples on the table., using the general rule that the verb form matches the item(s) that it is adjacent to. (Woodham) bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv128.shtml You should, however, never use is before a plural noun or noun phrase, e.g. Theres mangoes on the tree. or Theres five apples on the table. Are should always be used in these kinds of sentences.
A single unit Please explain the following. 1. Chicken and dumplings is my favourite dish.

Why is is used with chicken and dumplings? 2. I still cant find my boots. Why is the present tense, find, used after the verb cant? 3. I still havent found my boots. Why is the past participle found used after havent? MOE Chinese Reader

1. I take it that chicken and dumplings is the name of a dish in which chicken is cooked with dumplings. In that case, the two nouns go together to form a single unit, and is treated as a singular noun. Other examples are: Toast, butter and jam is what I normally eat at breakfast. Nasi lemak and sambal is delicious in the morning, but it makes us sleepy. Fish and chips is a typically English dish, and tastes best when it is wrapped in paper. A blouse and skirt looks nice on you. 2. Cant or cannot is the negative form of the modal auxiliary verb can. After such verbs, we use the base form of the main verb, NOT its present tense. In this sentence, the base form and the present tense have the same form. But let me change the subject of the sentence and youll see that it is the base form of the verb that is used: She still cant find her boots. The present tense of find here would be finds, as in She findsEnglish to be a difficult language to learn. 2. The tense used here is the present perfect tense negative. A present perfect tense consists of has/have + past participle of main verb. A present perfect tense negative therefore consists of has not/have not (or hasnt/havent) + past participle of main verb.
Taste of a happy problem When I bumped into my old school pals son the other day, he claimed that he had happy problems at work, and that he couldnt possibly stay alive without problems. But before I could

ask him what he meant, he began telling me of his sad problem, namely his developer fathers houses that wouldnt sell. Surely, there are only problems that cause sadness and/ or pain? What do you think? sm

There are plenty of happy problems! I know some young people who just LOVE to solve Maths problems: you can see the look of bliss on their faces when they are engaged in such problemsolving. Much of life is problem-solving, and the process as well as the results can bring a lot of happiness as well as pain. Many of the readers questions here give me happy problems: I have to work out how best to answer them, look up words in dictionaries, on the Internet and elsewhere (which I love doing!). Just imagine if you were given the problem (by a generous billionaire) of how to spend a million ringgit to see the world. Wouldnt that give you a very happy problem? More realistically, a happy problem could be having to choose among the many delicious varieties of durians to eat in one of those stalls dedicated to the serious consumption of durians. Thats what a happy problem tastes like!
Snow White MIND OUR ENGLISH By OH TEIK THEAM ONCE u-pun a time, there lived a beautiful princess who was as white as snow, and she was Her father, the king, soon married again. The new queen, who was vain and beautiful, had a magic pier mirror. She would ask the mirror every day, Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in this kingdom is the fairest of all? And the mirror would always answer, You, my queen, are the fairest of all. However, when the queen asked her question on Snow Whites 18th birthday, the mirror replied, Ill have to look into it. Give me the answer now, the queen roared, or Ill shy a rock at you!

called Snow White. Unfortunately, her mother died at an early age, leaving her sad and lonely.

If you do that, youll have to endure seven years of bad luck, said the mirror. Try to keep calm. The truth is that your beauty is now surpassed by that of your stepdaughter. Snow White has good ones that attract many of them. What good ones? Looks, the mirror replied softly. You should have told me a white lie! the queen exploded. She immediately ordered one of her servants to kill Snow White. But the servant was a compassionate man, and he helped the poor girl escape into the woods. Snow White chanced upon a picturesque cottage that was the abode of a knot of seven dwarfs. The little men told her that she could trespass on their kindness for as long as she liked. It would be nice if you help us with the housework, they concluded. I will be an excellent housekeeper, because grime doesnt pay, Snow White said, accentuating the adjective. And as long as I am here, this cottage will not go to raccoon ruin! Meanwhile, thanks to the magic mirror, the queen had discovered Snow Whites whereabouts. She disguised herself as an old peasant woman and set out at dawn for the forest. When the queen reached the cottage, she offered Snow White a red and yellow apple that she faint. When the seven homuncules returned from their drudgery of collecting kindling, they were shocked to find the still body of Snow White. Thinking that she was dead, they put her in a crystal coffin, which they placed beside a deadfall near their cottage. In this way, the oldest dwarf said with a grave expression, we can visit her every now and then. One day, when they went to see Snow White, the dwarfs saw, beside the coffin, a young prince who was lost in the woods. They related the sad story about Snow White to him, which made

had poisoned. The unsuspecting girl took a bite of the juicy fruit and fell to the floor in a dead

him tearful. And then he fell on the coffin and injured his face when he accidentally stepped on a rock and lost his balance. The princes fall jolted the body of Snow White. She started to cough violently, so that the morsel of poisoned pippin fell out of her mouth. The dwarfs and the prince were delighted when they realised that she was apple-solutely all right. What happened to your face? Snow White asked the prince. I was struck by the beauty of the place, he replied with a roguish wink. The whole company repaired to the cottage, where Snow White said to the prince, You must be hungry. Shall we have a salad? Yes, lettuce, he replied. My salad is to die for, she boasted. It will take your breath away. Im glad you said for and not from! he said, grinning impishly. After the meal, the prince said to Snow White, You did a killer job in the kitchen! Thank you, said Snow White blushingly. The youngest dwarf handed the prince a broom and said, Why dont you sweep Snow White off her feet? The next day, Snow White married the handsome prince in a white wedding.

(Adapted from a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.)

Interesting words IT helps to use words with some originality in mind and here are a few of my favourites. Parody, from the Greek paroidia: To imitate for comic effect. Ennui (on we), from French: Boredom. Moratorium (mo ra tor ium), from the Latin moratorius: A permissive or obligatory delay. Somnolence (Som no lence), from the Latin somnus: Oppressive drowsiness. Votive (Vo tiv), from the Latin votivus: A vow; dedicated by a promise. Leer, old English: Sly glance. Tryst, old French: A meeting. Brusque, from the Italian brusco: Abrupt. Rant, from the Dutch ranten: Speak wildly. Flux, from the Latin fluere: Constant movement. David King

Make it snappy By NITHYA SIDHHU The evocative language of sports. READ any sports commentary lately? Or are you a regular reader of the Sports pages? If you have, and are, then you will be well aware of the language of sports writers. Its remarkable English, I tell you. Good writing, fast-paced words, excellent descriptions and within a heartbeat, you get so caught up, the latest MyVi can zip by and you wouldnt even have noticed. Thats how catchy they are. Take this sentence for instance: Malaysias Lee Chong Wei produced an overwhelming display to demolish Denmarks Peter-Gade Christensen in the final to win his fourth Indonesia Open mens singles badminton title in Jakarta (Star Sport, June 27). through a good sportswriters words. Speed reading: Even if you didnt see him, you can actually imagine how fast Usain Bolt moves The use of the word overwhelming is pretty powerful, particularly when you look up your good old Oxford dictionary to find that to overwhelm means to defeat completely because of superior numbers, strength and skills. Tell me, does knowing this not make you respect Lee Chong Wei more? Or respect the writer who chose the word more? Then, the word demolish. With Oxford telling me that this word means pull or knock down, Im even more impressed by our lanky Chong Wei. See what I mean? On another page, I read the following: In the womens (cycling) event, Kimberley Yap (2005 Manila Sea Games triathlon gold medalist) won the 84km race to snatch the champions jersey from Mariana Mohamad yesterday. I like the word snatch in this sentence because it conveys competition and the act of taking something very quickly or rudely!

Yes, you do have to be quick in sports, dont you? How can you win, otherwise? Take a look now at the following one-sentence round-up of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in Pasadena where Mexico beat the United States 4-2 in the finals played in front of 93,000 fans. The pulsating game was a fitting finale to a tournament boasting plenty of goals and attacking games in front of bumper attendances and Mexico, with their exciting young team, were deserving champions for a record sixth time. The language excites. Beginning with the word pulsating, one gets the feeling of the heart being involved, with the rush of blood being experienced and the whole spirit of ebb and flow being there. The word attacking then takes over to give you the feeling that you would have loved to be one of the football fans present there to cheer each attackers move. When the writer uses the words bumper attendances, you can already imagine how being in upon group of football fans cheering till their throats became sore. As for reading that the Mexican team was not only exciting but young, can you not imagine them in your head with their curly tousled heads and their brown bodies rippling with muscles underneath their taut football jersies? Ah, surely you know what exciting means when you can visualize how it must have felt when a group of Mexican team members raced ahead with the ball and almost made it to the goal post with it? As for the words, a record sixth time, if you were a Mexican team fan or a Mexican reading that sentence in Malaysia, you would be justifiably proud and smiling from ear to ear! My race, my people, my team! Winning again! Six times, man, six times! Champions, man, champions! Sports writers they are an evocative lot, arent they? In case you dont know it, evocative means to bring strong images, memories and feelings to mind. Such is the power of evocative writing that I sometimes wish I was a sports writer myself.

that stadium would have felt on that day, with thousands upon thousands of people and group

On a personal note, the last time I participated in competitive sports was when I was cheered on, as a teacher, to dribble a ball with a hockey stick, around some plastic cone hurdles, in a tele-match event on Teachers Day. Having never exercised for God knows how long, I surprised myself by coming in second, winning myself a chocolate bar which was subsequently devoured by (I must say) an undeserving daughter. Though exhilarated by the win, I was nevertheless made acutely aware of the fact that I needed to exercise more. Immediately after that brash dash (which I made mainly to please my student fans), my face was hot, my heart beat erratically and my lungs felt as if they were tearing up inside. For a couple of seconds, I even thought I might pass out. I didnt but I did vow to myself that I would never put myself through that predicament ever again! Was what I just described evocative? Pray, tell me it was!

Reason for the doubt Your Questions Answered by FADZILAH AMIN IS the phrase ... the reason is because ... correct? I consulted two books and the first one said it was incorrect while the second one did not give a clear-cut answer. The phrase is commonly used and even on Bloomberg TV, where it is one of the favourite phrases of one of the presenters on the economic desk at Bloombergs European headquarters in London. She is Asian, and the only presenter who seems to use the phrase. Kee

There are two opinions on the use of the reason is because or the reason ... is because. Robert Burchfield, the editor of A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary (1986), in his revised 3rd edition (or rather rewriting) of Fowlers Modern English Usage (1998), does not consider the expression standard English. What he has to say about this structure is interesting:
Though often defended, the type the reason ... is because (instead ofthe reason ... is that) aches with redundancy, and is still inadmissible in standard English as it was when H.W. Fowler objected to it in 1926. (p.100) and ... for the present at any rate, its absence from the works of our most talented writers and scholars is more significant than its presence in more informal printed work. (p.656) [bolding mine]

The online Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary has the same view, and under its entry for REASON has the following sentence as one of the examples, with not standard written before it:
not standard The reason I walked out was because I was bored.

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary (2004, revised 2009), however, has this note below its entry for REASON:
Many people object to the constructions the reason why ... and the reason ... is because, and feel that the phrasing the reason that ... is more logical and elegant. However, all three expressions are generally accepted in standard English.

I agree with Burchfield and the online CALD. The sentence in the CALD, The reason I walked out was because I was bored., contains a redundancy. Because means for the reason that. So the sentence means: The reason I walked out was for the reason that I was bored. The

phrase for the reason is obviously redundant. It would be better to write: The reason I walked out was that I was bored. Or, if we dont want to focus on the reason, we can simply say: I walked out becauseI was bored.
Pronouncing won 1. May I know how to pronounce won (past tense of win)? Is there a British and American way of pronouncing this word? Some of my friends say it could be pronounced as one or worn. 2. Which sentence is correct: Article 95 of the Companys Articles of Association; or Article 95 of the Articles of Association of the Company? Curious

1. Won as the past tense and past participle of win is pronounced like one in both British and American English. If you go to the following web pages and click at the right places, you can hear the pronunciation: www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/won www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/win There is another word, though, also spelt won, which is the base form of an archaic verb meaning dwell or abide. This word is also pronounced like one, but has an alternative pronunciation that sounds like waun. This may be what your friends are referring to. You can hear the two pronunciations on the following web page: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/won 2. You can write EITHER Article 95 of the Companys Articles of Association OR Article 95 of the Articles of Association of the Company. If you do a search for the Companys Articles of Association and the Articles of Association of the Company on the Internet, you will find a lot of companies using one phrase or the other. Some companies use both. Let me quote from a website of the Rolls Royce company:
Explanatory note of principal changes to the Companys Articles of Association (p.10) ... subject to the restrictions contained in the Articles of Association of the Company.... (p.2) Incorrect words

I refer to the article in the Sports section of The Star (July 18, p.5) entitled, Relief for Rajagopal. 1. Rajagopal said he was happy to see Safee at his beat again. Shouldnt the word beat be best? 2. I was worried about fielding Safee as he had just recovered from an injury but he past the test with flying colours.

Past should be passed?

3. We didnt caved in after the early penalty ...

Caved should be cave. An infinitive should be used after did, shouldnt it? T. Sathyaseelan You are correct on all three counts. Beat should have been best; past should have been passed, because a verb is needed here, and past is not a verb; and caved should have been cave for the reason you gave. Here, it is the negative form of the word did that is used, and the past tense verb is didnt cave. Since didnt is already in the past tense, cave does not have to indicate the past again.
Unreal situation On the front page of The Star (July 11), there was a small headline which read, If she was a dish in reference to Thailand PM-designate Yingluck Shinawatra. above context. Felicia Since she can never be a dish, shouldnt the verb were be more appropriate than was in the

In writing about an unreal situation using if with the be verb, were is often used instead of was. But was is acceptable as well, because the past tense indicates impossibility or unreality, although some people consider was to be less formal than were. Here are two examples of the use of was with if in respectable British newspapers:
If Michael Phelps was a one-man nation, he would have stood at number five in the Beijing 2008 medal table as of Wednesday evening. (telegraph.co.uk, Aug 13, 2008) she did in the Fifties (independent.co.uk,April 10, 2010) Carola Long: If she was a young actress today, Grace Kelly wouldnt dress as conservatively as

However, if the pronoun used is I, the use of was with if would sound much more informal. We usually say If I were you ..., not If I was you ..., although I have heard workingclass English people use the latter expression.
Would not always for the past Are the following sentences correct? 1. It would be great if he is coming. (At the time of talking) (would and is are used, but would is in the past tense, isnt it?) 2. Be careful when you walk. 3. Be careful when you are walking. Ahmad

1. Since you are using an if clause, you need to use a past tense there with would, and write It would be great if he came. You write this when there is little possibility of his coming. But if there is a real possibility of his coming, you write: It will be great if he comes. If you are certain that he is coming, you write: Its great that hes coming! Would, however, is not just used as the past tense of will. If you look up any advanced learners dictionary, youll find many different uses of would. 2 & 3. Both sentences are correct. Here are two excerpts from the Internet to illustrate their usage:
And you must learn to balance things Upon your shiny nose; And, Spitz, be careful when you walk, To turn out well your toes.

(From a childrens song Spitzs Education by Mrs Charles Heaton. Spitz is a dog.) www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/our-childrens-songs/our-childrens-songs%20%200156.htm

Perth and Kinross Council are responsible for clearing the snow from all these areas in Fairfield ... this has not happened ... Please be careful when you are walking or driving anywhere. (Part of a New Year greeting from a housing cooperative to residents.)

Sock, punch, wallop Mind Our English By JOHN EVANS

Fighting for the right words. THE English language is awash with words and phrases that can be used figuratively or idiomatically. The figurative use is often in sharp contrast with the core meaning of the word. Take the word fight, for instance. Although the term fighting fit could be interpreted as meaning fit enough to fight, invariably it does not. It means that a person is in a state of good health, especially after being ill or in spite of being old. The expression fighting drunk, of alcohol. If you fight shy of doing something, it means that you avoid or are unwilling to do the task in hand. If you are fighting for your life, it means that you are gravely ill. If as a pilot you are fighting to control your aircraft, it means that you are doing everything you can to avoid disaster. however, can only refer to a person who has turned nasty and aggressive under the influence

Ali (right) duking it out with Trevor Berbick in a 1981 bout in Nassau, Bahamas. AP Photo

Put em up: Boxing legend Muhammad

If you have a fighting chance, it means that you have a chance to survive or succeed, but your survival or success will usually involve a great deal of effort on your part. If you are fighting

to keep your job, it definitely does not mean that you are physically assaulting your colleagues or boss! Other idiomatic uses of the word fight include spoiling for a fight, to show fight, to fight it out, to have plenty of fight left, to put up a good fight, to fight to the finish (or fight to the death), and to fight tooth and nail. Even terms such as bare-knuckle fighter and dirty fighter are used figuratively to describe aggressiveness in business or politics. If you describe a debate or argument as a knock-down drag-out fight, you mean that it is very serious, emotional and angry. This is an American idiom and its origin is pugilistic in the extreme, referring to a type of boxing match in which a fighter who had been knocked down was dragged out of the ring and replaced by another contestant. In a world where terrorism has replaced the traditional battlefield, it is perhaps unsurprising that battle and battlefield are words that are often used figuratively. Battle-related idioms include a battle of wills (or of wits), a battle (or war) of nerves, half the battle, the battle lines are drawn, locked in battle, do battle (with) and fight a losing battle. You can even fail to achieve the larger and more important aim. Without capital letters a battle of the bulge would refer to attempts to lose weight and acquire a less protruding stomach. Once capitalized, the Battle of the Bulge can only refer to the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes Forest region of southern Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, in the final year of World War II. The idiom a running battle comes from naval warfare, and refers to a battle that takes place between two hostile fleets while they are on the move, with one advancing and the other retreating. Another naval practice now used idiomatically is (to fire) a warning shot across the bows. The very instruments of war are also a fertile source of idiomatic usage. You can bombard somebody with ideas and proposals even if those selfsame ideas draw flak from others. You can torpedo someone elses plans or conduct a blitz (from the German word Blitzkrieg, or lightning war) on something. You can drop a bombshell, put up a smokescreen or be find yourself unexpectedly shot down in flames. As for guns, you can come out with all guns blazing or hold (or put) a gun to somebodys head. You can prematurely jump the gun or be under the gun (when people want you to shell-shocked. You can walk through a minefield of hidden dangers, shoot from the hip, or win a battle but lose a war, which means that you get one of many results you want, but still

succeed and will blame you if you fail). You can stick to your guns, be gunning for somebody, bring up the heavy guns or refer to the powers-that-be as the big guns. You can be going great guns, even if your success involves trying to spike somebody elses guns. You can refer to somebody as a loose cannon if you consider the person to be volatile and unpredictable. You can refuse point-blank to do something or tell somebody point-blank something (probably disagreeable) that has to be said. You can be in the firing line, be under fire or simply be fired! You can cross swords, be at daggers drawn or simply look daggers at someone. You can stab someone in the back, or, plan or achievement that someone hopes will bring them success might also harm them. If If someone has been in the wars it probably means they have faced a lot of problems, as an alternative, fall on your own sword! The idiom double-edged sword is used to say that a people are up in arms about something, it means they are protesting angrily about the matter. although it could also be humorously applied to someone who turns up at the office soaked to the skin and looking dishevelled. A tug of war might refer to a disagreement between two the courtroom on a daily basis. Wars always involve death and destruction, whereas a war against disease or famine is fought to alleviate human suffering and save lives. As such, an idiomatic war, battle or fight is always preferable to the real thing. Well, for most people it is ... opposing parties. Lawyers are accustomed to verbal duels and conducting a war of words in

Grammar couplets By OH TEIK THEAM FANBOYS stands for for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so The coordinating conjunctions we all know. Place a comma before coordinating conjunctions to separate independent clauses: The philanthropist lived to an old age, and the money he left went to various worthy causes. But short clauses are comma-bereft For example: I stayed but she left. Omit the comma if the independent clauses are conceptually interdependent: The young woman said to him, Come inside* and Ill introduce you to the superintendent. The experienced English teacher said to me, You can use either iced or ice before tea. This is the difference vomited is spelt with only one t, But benefitted is spelt with either one or two, said he. Graffiti (plural in form) is often used as a mass noun: Graffiti was scribbled all over the walls in the old town. Goodish means somewhat good or fairly large: (a) It was a goodish performance by Marge. Without the little preposition, By hook or by crook, (b) The crook hid a goodish sum on the barge. How can we have a composition? Read a grammar book!

*The subject of this independent clause is understood: Come inside = (You) come inside.

Now they are fried OPEN CHANNEL WITH reference to the interesting use of half-boiled eggs (MOE, July 21 and July 28), I wish to add further to the discussion. Surprisingly, India, which was under British rule for more than three centuries, has an altogether different meaning for half-boiled egg. Walk into any restaurant (or hotels as they are known there) and order half-boiled eggs and you will be served eggs with their sunny side up. Half-boiled eggs in the Indian lingo means eggs fried on one side! For half-boiled eggs you have to be specific and ask for very soft-boiled eggs immersed in hot water. The moment oil is used for frying you cannot call it boil in any sense, right? In some European countries (I do not know about Britain) it is referred to as very soft-boiled eggs, the equivalent for our local taste. The other two types are categorised as soft-boiled and hard-boiled. The Indians seem to understand omelette better than our local fried egg. Could that have anything to do with the British influence? Raj

Not quite journalese By Dr Lim Chin Lam Musing over English competency across the Causeway. THE suffix -ese is a formative of nouns and adjectives denoting: (1) locality, nationality and language (e.g. Japanese, Portuguese,Sudanese), and (2) literary style, etc. (Websters

Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 1989).

In illustration of literary style, computerese is the specialized vocabulary and jargon used by people who work with computers (Websters, loc. cit.); legalese is the formal and technical literary style that is characterized by neologism, archness, faulty or unusual syntax, etc. language of legal documents (Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 2004); andcomputerese is a (Websters, loc. cit.) and is thought to be typical of that used in newspapers (Oxford Advanced

Learners Dictionary, 2010).

What does journalese have to do with this article? None whatsoever, hence the above title. The criticisms raised against our English language dailies are not about journalese, but about the sins in grammar. One of my friends was so fed up over the matter that he cancelled his subscription to the offending newspaper. It makes me wonder how our newspapers compare with those of our neighbours across the Causeway. I was recently in Singapore for a few days and had occasion to randomly glance through some issues of the English language dailies there. No, I did not set out to do a full-scale research to compare Malaysian and Singapore newspapers. Anyway, the following are some telling examples of my findings (with the salient points underlined). The importance of the definite article When confronted by the principal, discipline mistress and the teacher in charge of the club, the girl denied it at first, but confessed after romantic text messages were found on her mobile phone. The Straits Times, July 5, 2011, p.A3. The first comma creates ambiguity. Were there two or three people who confronted the

girl? Two people would be indicated if the text read: the principal and discipline mistress (one

and the same person) and the teacher in charge (the second person). Three people would be and the teacher in charge (the third person). The who/whom confusion

indicated if the text read: the principal (one person), the discipline mistress (second person),

The Red Cross of China, which has no relationship to its global namesake, has denied any ties to Miss Guo, whom some Web users speculate got her title as she is the mistress or relative of a top Red Cross official. The Straits Times, July 5, 2011, p.A12. The who/whom confusion, commonplace in Malaysian writing, also occurs here. The text Guo) got her title. Miss Guo is not the object of the verb speculate which fact becomes Some Web users speculate that Miss Guo got her title. The proper degree of comparison Singapore yesterday took a big step towards becoming self-sufficient in water as work began on its second and largest desalination plant . The Straits Times, July 6, 2011, p.A1. The adjective largest (in the superlative degree) is inappropriate. In the context there are not largest of the two.

underlined above incorporates two clauses, viz. some Web users speculate and who (i.e. Miss apparent when we reconstruct the two clauses independently of the rest of the passage, thus:

apparently two desalination plants, and the second plant is the larger (comparative degree) The incongruent pronoun ... we prefer instead to consider each set of qualifications in their own right. The Straits

Times, July 6, 2011, p. A23.

The pronoun their (plural) does not accord with its antecedent set (which is singular). Granted, the pronoun their is now commonly used for the third person singular of unspecified gender (e.g. each voter is required to show their identity card) but such usage does not extend to inanimate items, where the pronoun its for the third person singular of the neuter gender suffices. Subject-verb agreement

Example 1: There is always a Plan B, C and even D for American magic consultant Don Wayne when he designs stunts for clients such as international illusionist David Copperfield and pop stars Britney Spears and the late pop icon Michael Jackson. The Straits Times, July 6, 2011, p.C7. Three alternative plans were mentioned, viz. B, C and D. The associated verb should therefore be in the plural even in an inverted construction, so that the text could read: There are always a Plan B, a Plan C, and even a Plan D. Example 2: Labour leader Mr Ed Miliband told the BBC he plans to force a vote in Parliament the takeover of British Sky Broadcasting by Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp Chairman and media sorcerer with a touch of evil, as reported in Today, July 11, 2011, p.3. The noun investigations is plural, and it should be followed by the verbare completed (plural) reporting verb told is in the past tense, but the verbs that follow are in the present tense

to delay the takeover until investigations into the hacking scandal is completed. Pertaining to

rather than is completed (singular). There is, additionally, the matter of sequence of tenses. The which is acceptable where universal facts or truths are concerned (e.g. the teacher taught us

that the Earth is not flat but spherical). The sentence as reported would be acceptable at the
10 years later. Proper placement of the adverb only

time of the reporting, but would probably be considered ungrammatical if the report was read

The policies began with the influx of Chinese during the 1850s Gold Rush and continued with the White Australia policy aimed at curbing non-white immigrants only abolished in 1973. Pertaining to the policies of discrimination against early non-white immigrants, as reported in The Straits Times, July 11, 2011, p.A14. The position of the adverb only is spurious. Was the White Australia policy only abolished in 1973, OR was the White Australia policy abolished only in 1973? Adjective or adverb? It used to be that if you ran out of battery or lost your photo, you could just make a quick call, enter your four-digit PIN code and then listen to all your voicemail. It was simple, quick and convenient. Unfortunately, it was also unbelievable easy to compromise. Today, July 11, 2011, p.30.

A typo, the two adjectives unbelievable and easy in unlikely apposition? The adjective unbelievable should be corrected to the adverbunbelievably. Closing remarks The aberrations noted above do not fall under the term journalese but under style and coinage. Some of these are actually imported. The ascriptions at the end of many reports and features suggest that the texts have been reproduced from copy received from foreign news agencies daily and inexorable demands on reporters and editors to meet deadlines. What about the situation in Malaysia and Singapore? Malaysian newspapers may seem to be riddled with grammatical aberrations but the very same offences are to be found perhaps to a much smaller extent in Singapore newspapers. Do we despair? No, rather the offending texts can be treated as useful lessons in the language and grammar of English. Perhaps I can now persuade my friend to renew his newspaper subscription. like AFP, AP, Reuters, etc. Again, it is fair to assume that these aberrations are due largely to the grammar. To be fair, aside from the typos, the grammatical aberrations are not all of local

Letter or alphabet? YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY FADZILAH AMIN WHICH is correct: big and small letters or big and small alphabets? I tend to pick letters. Please give me a lengthy explanation as I would like to show it to my friend. Azam

An alphabet is defined as a set of letters or symbols in a fixed order used for writing a language (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 2005). Thus, the Roman alphabet, which is used for writing English, has 26 letters from A to Z, and the Arabic alphabet used for writing Arabic and Jawi Malay has letters from Alif to Ya. Many Malaysians refer to a letter of the alphabet, such as A or B, as alphabet A or alphabet B. This is wrong. We should say letter A or letter B. When speaking of writing the letters in the Roman alphabet, we distinguish between capital letters and small letters, or upper case and lower case. Thus we can say, for example: capital E or upper-case E and small e or lower-case e. This should be long enough for you to show your friend.
Teachers day Which is correct: Teachers Day or Teachers Day? I have come across the latter in the local newspapers (The Star included). John

Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), which inaugurated World Teachers Day on Oct 5, 1994, spells it with an apostrophe after the s:
World Teachers Day, held annually on Oct 5 since 1994, commemorates the anniversary of the signing in 1966 of the Unesco/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers. (unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/education-building-blocks/teachereducation/advocacy/world-teachers-day/)

So does the British National Union of Teachers (NUT):

The World Teachers Day 2010 event will take place at Hamilton House, Mabledon Place on Wednesday 6th October 2010 at 5pm.

(teachers.org.uk/node/11970)

I would go along with Teachers Day rather than Teachers Day.

Repeat that please 1. One of the meanings of repeat is to say/write again. Does this mean it is wrong to say repeat again in a sentence? If the answer is yes, then please explain the following sentence given on p.1,284 of the Oxford

Advanced Learners Dictionary (7th edition) under the definition of repeat: She kept repeating his name softly over and over again.
2. Which is the correct verb in this sentence and why?

What he wants is/are two houses and some money.

I think the correct verb is is but I do not know why. If the answer is are (because of the plural objects, houses and money), please explain these two sentences given for the definition of What (4) on p.1,877 of the Longman Dictionary Of

Contemporary English (new edition):

a) What matters is the British people and British jobs. b) What that kid needs is some love and affection. EENA

1. Yes, we dont usually say or write repeat again, because it would be redundant to do so. In the case of the sentence from the OALD, the idea of repetition is expressed three times: in the word kept (= did something repeatedly), in the word repeating and in the idiomatic phrase over and over again (= many times; repeatedly). Perhaps She uttered his name softly over and over again. would get rid of the redundancy, without losing the literary effect of the original. Just because something is in print does not mean it cannot be questioned, and I am glad that you questioned the logic of that sentence. 2. The correct verb is is because your sentence is a cleft sentence with a what-clause as the subject. A what-clause is normally considered to be singular... (M.Swan, Practical English Usage 2005, p.106, 130.1) Since the verb has to agree with the subject, the verb should be the singular is and not the plural are.

This is seen in the two sentences you quoted from the Longman Dictionary. I must also point out that the phrase two houses and some money is not the object, but the complement of the verb is. The be verbs do not have objects.
Per square foot Please explain the following: 1. The land area is RM150 per square foot/ feet. Which is correct? 2. The Memorandum of Transfer in favour of the Purchaser(s) has/ have been registered at the Land Registry. I would choose has been because there is only one unit for transfer. If the answer is have been, is it because there could be more than one purchaser? 3. The above matter and your letter dated April 24, 2011 is/ are referred. My friend told me that the answer is is as it is based on the same issue/ matter. MOE reader

1. It is The land area is RM150 per square foot. Per means for every and every usually goes with a singular noun or noun phrase like square foot, which is a measurement of area. Per square foot really means for every one square foot. 2. Has been is correct, but not for the reason you gave. The subject of the sentence is a long noun phrase, The Memorandum of Transfer in favour of the Purchaser(s). The most important noun in this phrase is Memorandum. Since it is a singular noun, the verb must be singular, and so has been registered should be used instead of have been registered. Has been registered is the passive form of the verb has registered. 3. The sentence is awkward. I assume that the above matter (what is in the heading of the letter) is the same matter that is in the other persons letter, as your friend said. It would be neater to write, I refer to your letter dated April 24, 2011 on the above matter. It is ungrammatical and awkward to write Your letter dated April 24, 2011 on the above matter is referred.

Even if you were to make it grammatical by using referred to at the end, it still sounds awkward. It is a passive sentence in a place where an active sentence would sound much better.

Ordering in slang IT is amusing to read the answer provided by Fadzilah Amin to a question about the use of

half-boiled eggs (MOE, July 21).There is an understanding that once in a while, it is all right be heard loud and clear by the person you are talking to. People today are generally fond of using certain popular slang to order food because if you were to use the correct way to express yourself, nobody would know what you are talking about or want.

to use the exception permitted in English to express yourself or to make it easy so that you will

Have we forgotten the adage, when in Rome do as the Romans do? So, its all right to join the crowd. Even in writing, nobody will question the wrong use as by now, everybody uses it in their daily life. Perhaps these popular or common slang words should be included in the English dictionary as exceptions to the rule because people will continue to use them. Lau Bing

Sound effect By LUCILLE DASS Speaking in and of silence. LISTEN = SILENT. A profound anagrammatic equation! While we have cultivated an amazing capacity for noise absorption by our ability to adapt, accept, analyse and attach meaning to the multifarious sounds that rule our world today, why do we find silence so deafening instead? Deafening silence is becoming increasingly irksome; in gold. But hushhh ... Surely, silence is a welcome restorative in a world full of sound and fury. Silence is simply defined as the absence of sound. An absence that evokes an aura of profundity. A profundity that engages and affects our literal and metaphoric sensibilities. The evocative language of silence is rich in sensibilities, sentiments, soul, heart and spirit. For write this piece), depicts the ominous presence of darkness, loneliness and emptiness in ones life. Paul Simon wrote the song when he was only 21, yet the maturity and intensity of his experience is very telling, Nobodys listening to me, nobodys listening to anyone. Are we better listeners today? I recall writing a piece We dont listen either (StarMag, Feb 22, 2009). But I digress. irrelevant to our pace and place in life today. Forget the boast of the past about it being gilded

example, Simon and Garfunkels 1964 title song, The Sound of Silence (which inspired me to

Not really. Take the classroom many teachers continue to scream at the top of their lungs to get students to listen. They use a miscellany of expressions set in equally diverse tones and timbre, depending on the purpose to summon silence in each instance. Some commands that come trippingly on the tongue of most teachers are: (please) keep/be

quiet, stop the noise! enough! quiet now, you hear me? stop talking! pay attention (please), may I have your attention, please?
Some simply shush or hush, at times with a capital S Silence, I say! But I think teachers would bite their tongue first before bellowing the severe and rude shut up! Or, the

figurative hold your tongue! Such language would be deemed uncivilised.

A wordless approach, with a finger to the lips, works in its own quiet way.

Order, order! No, no, its not an exasperated mothers call for tidiness! Its also not a desperate
a bang of his gavel, demands that silence be observed in his court. Or, he may simply command, Silence in Court!

holler for food from someone impatient and very hungry! Its the honourable judge, who, with

Heres another legalistic term that impels you to fall silent lest you incriminate yourself when you are most vulnerable: You have the right to remain silent. This in turn reminds me of a preachers assertion Speak now or forever hold your peace heard at traditional Christian weddings (for an unimpeded union). The utterance has been removed from many liturgies, TV trope ... for drama appeal. Some figures of speech with silence in them are: the silent majority (the large number of people/group who do not express their opinion publicly);silent/quiet as the grave (completely silent); the strong, silent type(usually used to describe a strong quiet man; could be a woman, no?); and of course the precious speech is silver, silence is gold(en). Others strongly imply the need to be silent: keep it to yourself; keep it under your hat; keep mum/mums the word; dont since civil registration of all marriages is now mandatory. However the term remains a popular

breathe a word; keep(something) under wraps; keep your lips sealed.

Imagine, in a moment of perfect silence one can even hear a pin drop! But what if this is

the dreaded silence one seeks to avoid? Meanwhile, an ominous silence may be calculated to convey a reactionary reluctance to communicate or comment. For sure, spiteful silence is context, perhaps. A deathly hush can be equally foreboding, especially in response to distressing news. sinister in character. Didnt G.B. Shaw say, Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn? In

In its quiet employ, the language of silence effectively communicates attitude, meaning, feeling, power and quiet appraisal of self, and/or ones lot. Loaded words (I cannot resist quoting JeanPaul Sartre here, Words are loaded pistols!) like tacit, implicit, implied, deduced, understood,unspoken, unexpressed, hinted, inferred ...

underscore silence as a medium that awakens ones sensibilities to contemplate and make sense biblical behest: Be still and know that I am God/The Spirit of Truth (Ps 46:10), is an awesome

of things. A sense of awareness and awe can only result from a felt sense of stillness. For me, the

challenge. It suggests the necessary attitude and stance of silence to discern the truth and reality of our being.

Silence is also a presence to be reckoned with in theatre/drama. Pinter, Beckett and Kafka are

among those known to employ silence to intensify experiences of uncertainty, impermanence,

detachment, alienation, suspension and inarticulateness. Mute performers such as mime artists (Marcel Marceau comes to mind) are highly skilled to bodily convey their act and emotions. It is essentially through a bond of silence that connectivity is established between audience and performers on stage.

Silence speaks volumes, beyond words, to encapsulate our experiences or struggles. Some of which may be to contend with silence itself! Be they overwhelming or exasperating, most silent moments are instances of heightened feeling, perhaps such as described by Lord Byron, All heaven and earth are still, (italics, mine) though not in sleep, But breathless, as we grow when
feeling most. A liaison with silence often delivers a much needed pregnant pause to help us prioritise and pace our life anew. Oh, did I tell you about an unforgettable experience that shocked me into silence? Me, a star-studded galaxy, a whirlpool of heightened stupefaction ... and pain.

turning stone silent! Byrons heaven and earth surely conspired that afternoon to hurl me into Err ... I fell into an orchestra pit. In pitch-dark. A day before our opening night of a stage production. I still shudder at the memory of pain and shame each time I step into a certain hall of fame ... I knew it! I hear you laughing, wickedly. I should just zip my lips now and give you the silent treatment!

More on Ms Mind Our English In reference to the article The distaff side by Dr Lim Chin Lam (MOE, June 15), reader Nelson

Wong writes on the pronunciation of Ms.

Incidentally, Ms, pronounced /muhz/, is a newly invented honorific to not specify the marital status of a woman. (as stated in the article) I wish to add that there is more than one pronunciation of Ms. It can be pronounced as miz or muhz as stated in the following dictionaries: i) Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary

8th Edition;
ii) Collins English Dictionary 21st Century

Edition;
iii) The New Penguin English Dictionary; iv) BBC English Dictionary; v) Cambridge International Dictionary

of English;
vi) Merriam-Webster Collegiate

Dictionary 10th Edition.

As a matter of fact, Ms is a blend of Miss and Mrs used from 1950s onwards marital status unknown or irrelevant.

Which half is boiled? YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED by FADZILAH AMIN IN his story Good excuse for indulgence (Sunday Metro, May 15), Kevin Kam drew our

interest to the Kemaman Kopitiam serving a breakfast set comprising hot crisp toasts slapped

liberally with homemade kaya and butter, and half-boiled eggs.

I have two questions. Were the eggs still whole when served? If so, which half of the eggs were actually boiled? Kemaman Kopitiam must be unique because elsewhere I am served soft, medium or hard-boiled eggs. EZA

Its really easy for Malaysians to make the mistake of saying half-boiled eggs instead of softboiled eggs, the phrase that native speakers use. I used to say half-boiled eggs for years, having translated the term from the Malay telur setengah masak, until a native speaker corrected me. Its not an illogical term, since the egg has not been fully cooked, i.e. usually the yolk is soft and the white of the egg, though not still having the consistency of mucus, is still wobbly. The natives write of meat that is half-done, especially in their recipes, meaning meat that has been half-cooked and is not yet tender. Here are some examples:
Bind the beef tightly, stick into it four cloves, and put it into a sauce-pan with three quarts of water, a quarter of an ounce of black pepper half beaten, some salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, and three anchovies; turn it often, and when half done take it out, pour off the liquor; put in the beef again, with a pint of port wine and half a pint of table-beer made scalding hot, and Dalgairns,1840) some of the liquor strained; stew it till tender ... (From the book The Practice of Cookery by Mrs 18635 J.Thomson Sunday at Hampstead v, The meat half-done, they tore it and devoured. (Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition 1989) Train or training? Which question is correct? 1. How many times do you train a week?

2. How many times do you train in a week? 3. How many times do you do your training in a week? The answer to all three questions is, Twice a week. Azam

Both 2 and 3 are correct. Question 1 can be corrected by changing the order of the phrase to: How many times a week do you train?
Capitalisation Despite all the explanations I have read, I cant find satisfactory guidelines on when to capitalise sun, moon and earth. Please help. Still Confused

There are no hard and fast rules about when to capitalise the first letters of these words and when not to. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary(2004, revised 2009) states also Earth, also Moon and also Sun after the entries for earth, moon and sun respectively, without explaining when we should use the forms with the initial capital letters. The case of earth is probably clearest. In ordinary usage, we normally write earth without the capital e, as in: Since our time on earth is limited, lets make the best use of it. However, when we name our planet as one of the planets that go round the sun, we usually use a capital e. Perhaps this is because all the other planets have names, and their names are proper nouns (taken from the names of gods and goddesses of Roman mythology), so we make Earth a proper noun as well. Thus we have, Mercury, Venus,Earth, Mars, Jupiter, etc. We also use a capital e in terms like Planet Earth or Earth Day, because Earth is there seen as the planet we live on. And Earth as in the sentence, The Earth rotates on its own axis is more often used than earth in a discussion of our planet as a planet. Heres a sentence from a Nasa (US National Aeronautics and Space Administration) website:
This strategic placement permits constant observation of spacecraft asthe Earth rotates on its own axis.

The case of the moon is different. Earth has only one moon, and in ordinary writing, we call it the moon. Poets have personified it and given it the names of the Ancient Greek and Roman

goddesses of the moon, like Artemis, Phoebe, Cynthia, Selene, etc, but our moon really has no name in everyday usage. This is in contrast to moons that go round other planets like Jupiter and Saturn, which have been given names like Europa, Ganymede, Titan, Hyperion, etc. So it is more common to use the moon with a small m, and we dont ever call it Moon without the before it, as we can call Earth without the. There is an interesting article in guardian.co.uk related to this, which you might want to read. It is called Why doesnt the earths moon have a name? (www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2051,00.html) Nasa, however, uses initial capitals for all three space objects, i.e. the Sun, the Moon and the Earth, as can be seen in a page of its Mission News: www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2051,00.html As for the sun, in ordinary non-scientific writing, we dont capitalise the s as can be seen in the sentence: The sun rises from the east and sets in the west. But in scientific writing, both sun and Sun are used. Below are some examples of usage of the three words in Oxford University websites, as well as one from the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and another from the Natural History Museum in London:
The outer parts of the star are blown away at around 10,000 km/sec, or 20 million mph, in a fireball a billion times brighter than our sun. (Dr Mark Sullivan) Justham) When we look at the Sun or any other star, we just see light from its surface. (Dr Stephen You would see an enormous star, a few hundred to a thousand times the size of the sun with a turbulent red surface. This includes the core-collapse of massive stars, thermonuclear explosions of objects the size of our moon and extreme accretion onto newly-formed black-holes. Where early panels focus on our Moon and Sun, just light seconds away, later ones stretch billions of light years back to the birth of the Universe in the Big Bang.

The warm dust is believed to be from recent collisions of rocky bodies at distances from the star comparable to that of the Earth from the Sun. (from the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh) If the moon had been created elsewhere and was captured by the Earths gravity we would expect its composition to be very different fromthe Earths. (from the Natural History Museum, London) S or no s We say a ten-dollar note but an overseas conference. Why cant we say an oversea conference? Balan

We can still say oversea conference but to quote from the Oxford English Dictionary under the entry overseas (as an adjective), Overseas is now more frequently used than oversea. The OED has the word oversea in it, and in fact it was the original form of the word as an adjective and adverb, and first recorded in 1509. But what later became a noun (or a quasinoun as the OED puts it) in 1909 is overseas, meaning foreign parts, abroad or as the Concise Oxford Dictionary (2004, revised 2009) puts it, foreign countries regarded collectively. So we cant say that oversea is the singular form of the noun overseas, since oversea was never a noun. Oversea is just an older form of the adjective and adverb overseas. The case of the ten-dollar note is different. Dollar is the singular form of dollars and this singular form is used in a noun modifier or part of one. Here are two fairly recent examples of the use of oversea in online British newspapers:
Questor share tip: RSA Insurances oversea push will yield returns(from telegraph.co.uk,

February 2011)

As Caribbean countries press for limitations on the judiciary power of the Privy Council, we take a look at appeals figures by overseacountries (from guardian.co.uk, June 13)

The distaff side RAMBLINGS By DR LIM CHIN LAM Examining some issues related to the tender sex. THE distaff side? A distaff is a stick or spindle that was used in the past for holding wool or flax which was to be spun by hand; and spinning was a seeming preoccupation of women from which came the term spinster so that the word distaff, when used as a modifier, means denoting or concerning women.

I cannot help but ramble. The word spinster, which is of the feminine gender, is odd. It does not follow the pattern of seamster/seamstress orsongster/songstress for the masculine/feminine nouns. In other words, there is no spinster/spinstress. If there were such a masculine/feminine

pattern, could spinstress be applied to an unmarried woman, typically an older women beyond the usual age for marriage, thus leaving the notional masculine form spinster to be applied to a man like Mahatma Gandhi at his signature spinning wheel? What about Scheherazade, the putative teller of tales of The Thousand And One Nights, who spun tales of wonderment, of jinns and rocs, of magic lamps and flying carpets but deliberately ended each tale with a cliffhanger night after night ...? Was she a spinner of tales or a spinstress? But I digress ... A womans lot is an unenviable one. In certain countries, the female is an unwanted being to be aborted or killed at birth, accidentally burnt to death in the kitchen (for reason of bringing an education, prohibited from many activities commonplace in enlightened countries, treated like chattel, etc. It seems almost a tragedy to be born female. Additionally, womankind has had a bad press. Women have been the butt of unkind and crude remarks and jokes. They have been called all manner of names from plainly rude to offensive to downright denigratory such as bimbo, broad, chick, crumpet, harpy, nymphet,nympho, siren, slattern, slut, strumpet, tart, vi an inadequate dowry to a marriage), nonchalantly made the victim of an honour killing, denied

rago, and whore. Evenmother-in-law has become a dreaded word to the new bride.
used to form nouns for the female of our species.

However, there are appropriate terms for the consideration. Please refer to the table for suffixes

Then there are special forms for the masculine and feminine, as in the following examples: (1) man/woman; (2) gentleman/lady; (3)father/mother; (4) boy/girl; (5) son/daughter; (11)wizard/witch; etc. (6) nephew/niece; (7)uncle/aunt; (8) bachelor/spinster; (9) king/queen; (10) monk/nun; Okay, the above lists, inclusive of feminine terms, somewhat make up for the harshness of the derogatory names applied to, or hurled at, women. At the other end of the spectrum, however, is one highly complimentary term for women, viz. the word angel as, for example, in Mei Chun is an angel, Moira sang like an angel from on high, etc. Hold on there. There is one jarring note in the usage. Can a girl or woman be an angel? The word angel derives from

Greek angelos messenger who, in ancient times, was invariably male; and the word was, from biblical times, applied to male personae, as witness the angel Gabriel (the name is masculine), the archangel Michael (again masculine name), and the fallen angel Lucifer (still another masculine name). Have we somehow got our terms or our genders mixed up? Food for thought Today women have come to the fore in all walks of life. They have made inroads, and rightly so, into niches which had previously been the preserves of men and they have not been found wanting. There has also been an awareness nay, a call for society to be less sexist in its use of expressions concerning women. In this regard, my favourite example concerns the use of the word chairman. Not too long ago, the term was gender-free, so that one addressed the chairman of a meeting as Mr Chairman or Madam Chairman as the case might be. Now, in deference to gender correctness, the person presiding over a meeting is a chairperson, and a person may be appointed as even a piece of furniture, viz. as the chair of an institution. I suppose it is now all right to address the said functionary as Mr Chairperson or Madam Chairperson but what about Mr Chair or Madam Chair? Again, in the interest of gender correctness, I wonder why nobody makes a fuss when a woman is designated as the director (not directress) of an institute or as the manager (rather than manageress) of a company; and in Malaysia nobody bats an eyelid when a woman elected to a state legislature is referred to as an assemblyman and not as an assemblywoman. Since my article on the subject (Genderness and tenderness, MOE, March 21, 2008), I happily note the first-time appointment of women to ceremonial posts, viz. Ms Quentin Bryce as Governor-General of Australia, and Ms Manjula Hood as Lord Mayor of Leicester, England.

(Incidentally, Ms, pronounced /muhz/, is a newly invented honorific to notspecify the marital

status of a woman.) Why, I wonder, were the positions not re-named Governess-General and or My Lord Mayoress or My Lady Mayor or My Lady Mayoress? Closing remarks

Lady Mayoress, respectively?How, I wonder, does one address the latter as My Lord Mayor

Dont get me wrong. I subscribe to the view that women are intellectually equal to men, Im all for women taking their rightful place alongside men in any milieu, and I agree that women hold up half the sky. I share the sentiments of the Maurice Chevalier character in the movie Gigi, when he sings, in his inimitable French accent: Thank heaven for leetle girls / For eye.

leetle girls get beeger every da-a-ay although Im not so sure about that roguish glint in his I have put in much effort to prepare this article, differentiating between masculine and bullshit (masculine) or cowdung (feminine)!

feminine where the context so requires. I just hope that this piece will not be looked on as

The usage of Who and whom Mind Our English Co-ordinated by Jane F. Ragavan PLEASE explain how to use who and whom. Are the sentences correct? 1. Whom are they waiting for? 2. Whom do you I saw when I opened the door? 3. Whom are they referring to? 4. Whom do you think you are? Lim Hian

Who is the subject pronoun and whom is the object pronoun. However, in modern British English, who is more frequently used as both subject and object pronouns, except after a preposition, and in formal speech or writing. 1. Whom are they waiting for? is correct, but too formal. Whom here is the object of the preposition for. Who are they waiting for? is more commonly used. 2. Your second sentence is ungrammatical. Did you mean Whom did I see when I opened the door? Here, whom is the object of the verb see. It is, however, more common to say Who did I see when I opened the door? 3. This question is similar in structure to question 1. Although Whomare they referring to? is correct, it is too formal. Who are they referring to? is more often used. 4. Who do you think you are? is the correct sentence, because who is the complement, not the object of the verb are (a form of the verb be). There are well-known expressions, however, which use whom rather than who, but whom in these expressions come after prepositions, e.g. To Whom It May Concern written at the top of a reference for a job or scholarship, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, originally written by John Donne for a sermon in the 17th century and used by Ernest Hemingway in the 20th century as the title of one of his novels.
Among and over

1. What is the difference between among and over? 2. Which sentence/s is/are true? a. Who are you talking to? b. Whom are you talking to? c. To who are you talking? d. To whom are you talking? Nash Aziz

1. This is a very broad question, since each of these two words, especially over, has a lot of meanings. Let me give you links to three free online dictionaries that give the definitions of these words: oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/ (online Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary) dictionary.cambridge.org/ (online Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary) ldoceonline.com (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) 2. Do you mean which sentences are correct? Sentences a.b. and d. are correct. As I just wrote in answer to another reader, who is the subject pronoun and whom is the object pronoun. However, in modern British English, who is more frequently used as both subject and object pronouns, except after a preposition, and in formal speech or writing. Sentence a. Who are you talking to? is the most commonly used form of the question, although who is an object of the preposition to. Sentences b. and d. are both grammatically correct but too formal. Sentence c. is ungrammatical, since we dont use who after a preposition.

Please also refer to my answers to Lim Hian above.

More to since In one of your columns, you say:

We dont say It was five years since he had died, but It has been five years since he died.
But theres this example in the Longman dictionary (ldoceonline.com/dictionary/since): It was exactly five years since her father had died. Jacky Khor

Thank you, Jacky, for pointing out my error in answering the last question from Yu Siong which appeared in MOE on June 30. Actually, I should have told him that the definition of the word since (as a conjunction of time) in the grammar book he mentioned is not complete. The online Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary has a fuller definition, which is:
(used with the present perfect, past perfect or simple present tense in the main clause) from an event in the past until a later past event, or until now.

Even this definition does not cover all uses of since as a conjunction of time. There is no mention of what tense the clause beginning with since (the since-clause) should use. It could in fact use the simple past, the present perfect, or the past perfect tense. The main clause could also be in the simple past tense. The full definition should then read:
(used with the present perfect, past perfect, simple present or simple past tense in the main clause and the simple past, the present perfect, or the past perfect tense in the since-clause) from an event in the past until a later past event or time, or until now.

Yu Siongs sentence, It was five years since he had died., like the sentence from the online Longman Dictionary (It was exactly five years since her father had died.) uses the simple past tense (was) in themain clause and the past perfect tense (had died) in the since-clause. This structure is used not when relating the past to the present, but in a narration of the past, that looks back to an earlier past, for example:
She looked at the date on her mobile phone and suddenly remembered. It was exactly five years since her father had died.

Here are some examples of the use of different combinations of tenses in the two clauses: It had been 19 years since he taught modern languages at his old school... (past perfect tense

in the main clause with simple past tense in the since-clause; news.scotsman.com/friendsreunited/The-law-closes-in-on.2337931.jp)

Yesterday it was exactly 100 years since Manets Olympia was acquired for the French nation ... (simple past tense in the main clause with simple past tense [passive] in the since-clause;

(andrewgrahamdixon.com/archive/readArticle/780 (from The Independent, Nov 3, 1990) with simple past tense in the since-clause)

Ive been very busy since I came back from holiday. (present perfect tense in the main clause

From the online Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary

Its twenty years since Ive seen her. (simple present tense in the main clause with present

perfect tense in the since-clause)

From the online Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary

How long is it since we last went to the theatre? (simple present tense in the main clause with

simple past tense in the since-clause)

From the online Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary

The since-clause could also come before the main clause: Since he left there has been much speculation he might return to cabinet if cleared. (simple

past tense in the since-clause with present perfect tense in the main clause; bbc.co.uk/news/ukpolitics-11806638?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter, BBC News, Nov 21, 2010)
Already is enough Recently, I used a sentence in a conversation with my friend, which goes As if I werent already am. The sentence was used in the situation where I was telling her that I am already her friend, and in that current situation, it seemed like I wasnt.

My friend saw the sentence, and we had a debate on the accuracy of its usage. Is there anything wrong with it? Thanks. Jeremiah

Yes. You dont need the am at the end. You have already used the be verb in werent, and you dont need another one. Werent is all right instead of wasnt, though a little formal. Instead of using am at the end, you could write: As if I werent already your friend!

In praise of plain English Mind Our English By FIONA CHAN

Say it like it is and keep the bad boyfriends at bay. ONE of lifes most overlooked essential skills is learning to tell bad writing from good. This requires more talent than you might think. Good writing is easy to identify because it is like Call me Ishmael. Bad writing, on the other hand, is not always as straightforward to pick up on. The tricky bit is when you read something that appears to make sense but is completely incomprehensible on closer analysis. Two weeks ago, I came across what I like to call a bad boyfriend press release: one that is full of wonderful-sounding words, but is ultimately meaningless. Thats not to say it didnt read well. In fact, like most bad boyfriends, it was extremely slick. By harnessing next-generation technologies, the press release said, our customers will have access to a single, integrated marketplace that blends cutting-edge technologies with end-toend services that address every aspect of successful go-to-market campaigns. At first glance, the words sent my pulse racing. The sentence was smooth, silky and bombastically seductive. With some effort, I prevented myself from swooning at my desk. Then I got down to translating these honeyed phrases into simple English. That was when I realised that I didnt really know what these words meant at all. What exactly is an end-to-end service? Where is this single, integrated marketplace? Who were these people going to the market? succinct, understandable and gets directly to the point. It is impossible to find fault with a line

Like a jilted girlfriend in denial about a two-timing lover, I frantically raced through all the other sweet sentences in the press release to find a concrete commitment to a product, a service, anything. Instead, I kept stumbling on vague promises of 360-degree, innovative and impactful end-toend solutions, greater options to on-board and embed pre-selected technologies, and market. By the time I read through the whole release, my head was spinning. And this time it wasnt in a good way. In my few years as a journalist, Ive seen my fair share of headache-inducing corporate-speak. It usually involves synergistic solutions, core competencies, leveraging value-add and enhanced everything. One memorable media statement about a new property launch waxed lyrical about the scalable and ready plug-in technology that speeds up deployment time, accelerating time-to-

development being aroused by its historical context and blending various elements into a beautifully layered woven architectural lantern. I dont know about you, but I find the idea of living in an aroused lantern a bit disturbing. If you think this whole column is just a rant about bad press releases, however, you would only be 99% right. Ive actually already gotten the rant out of my system mostly by complaining at length to my colleagues. And in doing so, I realised that these bad press releases are really only a symptom of two broader modern-day plagues: the inability to say anything plainly and the tendency to use big words to hide a lack of substance. This is manifested not just in marketing materials. In fact, the connection between these two problems is neatly illustrated by another dating metaphor. These days, if you ask someone whether the new friend theyve been spending all their expression on their face.

weekends with is now their boyfriend or girlfriend, they get this pained, scrunched-up

I wouldnt call it dating ... Were just hanging out, but, I dont know, its not serious or anything, well see where it goes, theyll say, demonstrating that giving a simple yes or no answer has now become an impossible task for most people. adds legitimacy to their nebulousness. Its complicated, they then conclude with an explanatory air, as though a four-syllable word In the same way, people who are out of a job are never simply unemployed. Rather, they are in-between jobs, finding myself, taking some me-time, working out what really makes me happy. And then, of course, they tack on the big words: a lack of a job is actually a sabbatical during which people achieve self-actualisation. The list goes on. Kids who are too distracted to concentrate in school have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Adults who dont do well in the workplace lack incentivisation. Theres even a multisyllabic phrase to excuse those who use long words to obfuscate. To me, their problem is just hot air, but to them it is sesquipedalian obscurantism. For all these people, I have five short words: Say it like it is. Of course, if I had taken my own advice, I wouldnt have needed 753 words to make that point. The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

Two rabbit stories Mind Our English By OH TEIK THEAM 1. THE animals of the forest made a deal with a vicious lion who killed for pleasure. It was agreed that every day one animal would go to the lions den to be his supper. In return, the lion would stop his gratuitous violence. The first animal to go to the lions den was a rabbit, a brave creature who did not turn a hair even though death seemed inevitable for him. When the rabbit arrived at the den, the lion roared, You are late. Keep your shirt on, said the rabbit. I was detained by another lion who is a dead ringer for you. Another lion? said the lion. I am the king of this jungle. Take me to him immediately! The rabbit led the lion to a deep well and asked him to look inside it. Staring at his own reflection, the lion roared, I am the king of this jungle! His echo replied, I am the king of this jungle! Furious, the lion jumped into the well to attack his non-existent adversary. Splash! And he was never seen again. The moral: Craftiness is sometimes superior to strength.

(Adapted from an Indian fable)

2. A dog was stretching his legs and enjoying the fine weather when he saw a rabbit. He chased after the burrowing animal, who managed to escape after a long and arduous run. back into the chase, they said. his life. When the dogs friends got wind of the incident, they laughed at him. You didnt put your The dog said unashamedly, I was running just to have some fun. The rabbit was running for

The moral: Motivation is an important factor in the achievement of success.

In return (for): In reciprocation for something; in payment (for). Not turn a hair: To show no fear. Keep ones shirt/hair on: Not to become excited, upset, or angry. Dead ringer: A person or thing that closely resembles another. Stretch ones legs: To take a walk as a relief from sitting or lying down. Get wind of: To hear or know about (a rumour). Put ones back into: To use all ones efforts to do (something).

Luck out I KNOW that to be in luck means having good luck. Conversely, to be out of luck means not having good luck. Imagine my confusion and befuddlement when I learn that to luck out means the same as to be in luck! Can you help me out of this confusion, please? I. Ho

Blame it on the Americans! The phrasal verb luck out is of US origin, according to the OED, and means not just to be in luck, but to achieve success or advantage by good luck in a difficult, testing, or dangerous situation. It is used informally, and according to the OED, its first recorded use was in 1954. Perhaps the use of the word out in the verb came from someone whogot out by good luck from a difficult, testing, or dangerous situation. Andrew Wilkins, a publisher, writing in Words@Random, said that the above sense of luck out originated earlier, and was recorded during World War II, although he didnt cite any examples or sources as evidence. (http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990226) What he said may be true: some American fighter pilots in WWII, like George Bush Senior, must have lucked out of their planes while under anti-aircraft fire, and survived, while so many others died.
Grammatical problem I would appreciate it if you could explain the following: 1. June informed that there was/were no reply from Maggie after shecalled/had called three times on yesterday/this morning/March 7. (May I know what tense is suitable for the above tense?) 2. The Loan Agreements has taken/has already taken by the ABC Banks dispatch boy. 3. The Loan Agreement was taken by the ABC Banks dispatched boy this afternoon.

(May I know in questions 2 and 3, which tense is correct if I mention the date?) 4. All the necessary documents has been/have been executed. MOE Chinese reader

1. The correct sentence should read: June said that there had been no reply from Maggie after she calledthree times yesterday/this morning/on 7 March. The original sentence had a past reporting verb informed. But this is a transitive verb that needs an object, and there was no object in the original sentence, so I changed the verb to said. Since the reporting verb is in the simple past tense, the verb after that must go one step backwards in time and be in the past perfect tense. Hence the first part of the sentence: June said that there had been no reply from Maggie ... (If there was an object after informed, you could say, for example: June informed her manager that there had been no reply from Maggie ...) In the second part of the sentence, there is no need to use another past perfect verb, since the word after makes clear that Junes three calls must have been made before she said they had not been answered. So the simple past tense is used. Also, we dont use on before yesterday or this morning, only before a date; and there is no need to name the year of the calls, since it is clear that they were made recently. 2. You wanted to use a passive present perfect verb here, but you made two errors in your verb. The first error is to use a plural subjectthe Loan Agreements with a singular verb has. The second error is to leave out the be verb that should be added to make a passive verb. Also, it is better to say the despatch boy from the ABC Bank instead of using an apostrophe s after the ABC Bank, since the Bank here is not regarded as a group of people. As for already, you may leave it out or use it if you want to emphasise that the Loan Agreements have indeed been taken. The corrected sentence would then read: The Loan Agreements have (already) been taken by the dispatch boy from ABC Bank. 3. If you want to mention a specific time, like a date or a time of day, you should use the simple past tense, as you have done here. But you have made a mistake in the second half of the sentence in using dispatchedboy instead of dispatch boy. The corrected sentence should read:

The Loan Agreement was taken by the dispatch boy from ABC Bank this afternoon. 4. The correct sentence is: All the necessary documents have been executed. The noun in the subject (documents) is plural and must agree with the first auxiliary verb (have) in the passive present perfect verb have been executed.
Past tense 1. Please comment on these sentences. a. Thomas: Jane, have you had your breakfast? Jane: Yes, I have/had already. If the answer is had, is had the past tense of have? b. Jane: Have you eaten? Thomas: Yes, I have/had eaten. 2. Is this sentence correct: I send my brother to work and pick him after 5pm every day. Lydia

1. Both questions are in the present perfect tense, using the verbs have had and have eaten respectively. The short answers to each of those would only use the auxiliary (helping) verb have with no already. The dialogues then would be as follows: a. Thomas: Jane, have you had your breakfast? Jane: Yes, I have. b. Jane: Have you eaten? Thomas: Yes, I have. If the question is in the simple past tense, the short answer would also use the auxiliary verb, in this case, did: Thomas: Did you eat breakfast this morning, Jane?

Jane: Yes, I did. 2. You should say: I take/drive my brother to work and fetch him after 5pm every day. When you send something or someone somewhere, you dont go with that thing or person. For example, you can send a parcel by post to a friend in another town, or you can send your son to study abroad. In these cases, only the parcel and the boy go somewhere: you dont accompany them. Also, when you pick somebody up, it means you go somewhere in your car and collect somebody who is waiting for you, but you need not take him back to your home. He may just want a lift from you to go somewhere else. But when you fetch somebody, you go to where he is and take him back home. I presume that your brother lives in the same house as you.

Spot the error By OH TEIK THEAM EACH funny story below contains an error. Can you spot it? 1. Ive just read your sad, short story in the magazine. Its very good. Who wrote it for you? Who read it to you?

Sad, short story should be sad short story. The first adjective (sad) modifies the whole idea that follows.
2. Two secretaries are discussing their work over lunch. I hate filing. Sometimes I feel like throwing the paper puncher against the wall, says one. Although I try my best to be careful, I can never find the papers Im looking for. I forget where I have filed them. I had that problem, too, until I thought of a clever solution, her friend says. Now I make twenty-six copies of everything I file and file one under each letter of the alphabet. That way, I cant miss it!

Paper puncher should be paper punch or punch.

3. The tight-fisted boss had a nightmare in which he said to his employees, The office will be closed tomorrow in observation of the tenth anniversary of my wifes new dress.

Observation should be observance, which is an act of following a law, ceremony or custom. Observation refers to an act of watching or monitoring: The patient was kept under observation by the doctors.
4. You put a mouse in your sisters schoolbag? the mother said to her six-year-old son. How could you do that? The boy replied, I couldnt find a frog.

How could you do that? should be How could you have done that? We use the present perfect tense because the action (that) has already been done.

A look at homonyms By NITHYA SIDHHU Words that are spelt the same and sound alike but with different meanings. MY neighbours 11-year-old girl asked me, A man whose wife was ready to give birth, took her to Pizza Hut. Do you know why? I thought for a minute and then shook my head. Pizza Hut promises free delivery! she shouted triumphantly. I had to smile. The word delivery does have two meanings! A mother delivers a child and Pizza Hut guys do deliver the pizza you ordered to your house! Come to think of it, I used the word minute a minute ago. This word, too, can be used in different ways. For example: It will take me 30 minutes to finish writing the minutes of this meeting. Yes, while one refers to time, the other meaning for the word minutes refers to the detailed account you give about a discussion. As for the word account, it also has another meaning! When you give an account of an event, you are telling what transpired and happened. But, when you do the accounts, you are giving the facts and figures of a transaction in ringgit and sen. Hey, did you notice that I just used the word figures? This word has several meanings. For beginners, its a word that refers to the numbers involved. But, if someone compliments you on your figure, you know hes talking about your curves! Also, if you are confused about an issue, you may be asked to take some time and figure it out. In this case, you are asked to work out the meaning of what you have been told. Did I just use the word issue? I did, didnt I? Welcome then to another word with double meaning whats the issue about issue?

Well, for one thing, while an issue can refer to an important matter, it can also mean something else. For instance, if someone asks you whether you have any issues, he could also be asking whether you have any children! you a slip of paper. And, if someone were to issue you a summons or a receipt, this now refers to the act of handing Slip? Oops, did I just say slip? Yes, I did! Well then, a slip of paper means a sheet or document but if I wrongfully addressed my boss as Mrs instead of Miss, and shes upset, then Id better be quick to apologise by saying that it was a slip of my tongue which means it was a mistake on my part. How about the word quick? Any double meaning here? Definitely! To be quick is to be fast (in terms of minutes taken) but if a friend has cut you the quick, this means that he has hurt you deeply. Okay, have I left out anything? Ah yes, the word left itself. If I have forgotten and left my purse at home, I might have to turn left at the next junction to get to the nearest bank. If someone gave me directions to an unfamiliar bank, I might ask, Do I have to turn right or left? just to make sure. That someone might say to me, Yes, youre right. You have to turn left! So, the joke about the right and left side of the brain still holds. You dont know the joke? Let me throw some light on this issue. The joke goes like this: A man went to have his brain examined. When the surgeon checked his left brain, nothing was right. When he examined the right brain, nothing was left! in one way but have two completely different meanings. away something, you are getting rid of it? Ah, I used the expression throw some light, right? Here are two more words that can be spelt Throw could well be substituted with the word shed but do you know that if you throw Also, if you throw on a sweater, you are not giving it to the dustbin but actually putting one on?

As for the word light in one respect, I could be talking about the light from the sun or a lamp. In another, I could be talking about weight issues. For instance, if youre a gentleman, help. Ever met people who dont laugh enough? People who are too serious for words? We tell such people to lighten up that is, take it easy and be more relaxed and open. But if someone tells you not to light up in your restaurant, he is telling you politely not to smoke in his eatery. Ah, the word light how much warmth it generates when you tell a child, You light up my life or You are the light of my life. Are you on track with me so far? Am I on the right track when I tell you that English is as fascinating or as confusing as you choose to make it? Anyway, I think Ive said enough. Its time for me now to make tracks for the kitchen and track down my maid as well as track what she has been doing while I was writing this piece. Oh dear, did I say piece? Oh, oh, this word has a few meanings, too. But, no, I think Ill stop here. Ive said my piece and made my peace with you, I hope. Until we meet again through this column, let me take a minute to remember whether I have any minutes to write. No, I dont think so but I do think I have a group meet-up this afternoon. A meeting of similar minds ah, that I shall look forward to. Look did I say look? Ok, Ok Im stopping here but if you can find some time, do look up the many meanings of the word look. dont be upset if I told you that my bag is light enough and I can carry it myself without your

The plurals problem By DR LIM CHIN LAM Examining the problems in the use of the singular and the plural in English. I HAVE deliberately coined the above tongue-twisting title for the tricky topic of singular and plural in English. Consider a recent excerpt (Star/StarBiz, June 17, p.1), where I underline the points of

contention and insert my proposed correction (italicized and put in brackets), as follows: ... each of this (these) new generation aircraft which uses (use) 15% less fuel is priced at US$80.8mil and MAS being a long-term customer may be get (maybe gets OR may get) it will make that order is (are) unclear.

discounts. ... MAS also plans to order 30 aircraft for its low-cost unit Firefly but details of when The first sentence seemingly exhibits uncertainty about the grammatical number of the noun aircraft. The phrase each of indicates one individual out of many, in this case aircraft, which in this context is plural even though it has the singular form. In that plural context, being in the plural would govern the plural verb use instead of the singular uses. In the second sentence, the coordinate clause has details (plural) as the subject, which would therefore govern the plural verb are instead of the singular is, regardless of the distance separating subject and verb. The above example encapsulates one inescapable feature in English (and in other languages the noun or other substantive (pronoun, gerund and to-infinitive) that determines the grammatical number in a sentence, and other parts of speech agree accordingly. This article outlines some instances where the singular and the plural forms of nouns, substantives, etc. may confuse, and to note the special ways in which these are used. The plural of nouns then, the demonstrative adjective this should be amended to these. Furthermore, aircraft

such as Latin) that nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs must accord with one another. It is

In the main, nouns form the plural by adding the suffix -s (boy/boys) or -

es (mango/mangoes, bus/buses). In addition, there are, in English, many unusual plural forms, e.g. knife/knives, mouse/mice, man/men,child/children, ox/oxen.
The so-called loan words, i.e. words of foreign origin, may retain the plural form as in the original language, such as those from Greek (crisis/crises, meninx/meninges, phenomenon/phenomena,stigma/stigmata), Latin (alumnus/alumni, alumna/alumnae,bacterium/bacteria), Italian (libretto/libretti, paparazzo/paparazzi), French (bureau/bureaux, tableau/tableaux), Hebrew (cherub/cherubim,kibbutz/kibbutzim), Arabic (mujahid/mujahidin) and so on. Uncountable nouns Some nouns can be measured but not counted. It must be noted that, even then, some uncountable nouns may be used in the plural form. The plural of such nouns as water and sky occurs in literary or fanciful usage (the waters of the Mediterranean; under

starry skies above).

Nouns with unusual forms You got hear the new today? The good, my order one, got arrive awready. One hardly hears such expressions, except perhaps among new learners of English. News and goods are nouns for which there is no singular form. However, news is singular (no news is good news), whilegoods is plural (the goods that I ordered have arrived).

In such context, let us note some further examples of singular/plural complexity: (1) nouns that are singular in form and use, and have no plural form, e.g. equipment, furniture, merchandise; (2) nouns that are singular in form but are plural in use, e.g. kith, kin, swine, vermin; (3) nouns that are singular in form but are used as singular or plural, e.g.deer, offspring, sheep; (4) nouns that are plural in form but are treated as singular and used only as such, e.g. crossroads, headquarters,shambles, tidings; (5) nouns that are plural in form but singular in meaning, and can form the actual plural by adding the suffix -es, e.g.summons (singular) and summonses (plural); and (6) nouns that are plural in form and meaning, and are never used in the singular, e.g.arrears, smithereens, tatters. Nouns with different singular and plural meanings

Then there are the nouns where the singular and the plural forms have slightly or entirely

different meanings. For example, folk refers to people in general or people in a community (the

folk at Tanjong Rambutan), whereas folks is a more intimate term, referring to members of ones own family (he reminisced about the old folks at home); and desert is an arid, desolate area of land (there is scant vegetation in the desert), whereasdeserts, pronounced dizzerts, is what one deserves as reward or punishment (he finally received his just deserts).
My fellow-learners may entertain themselves by differentiating between the singular and the plural in the following The singular of verbs A base verb is plural. Forming the singular of verbs is as easy as tagging on the suffix -s or its verb to have is has, nothaves, and (2) the singular of the verb to be has unusual forms (see under Personal Pronouns, below). Such formations apply to lexical verbs. pairs: air/airs,damage/damages, due/dues, manner/manners, moral/morals,premise/premises.

variant -es to the base verb (walk/walks; go/goes;do/does) except that: (1) the singular of the

With auxiliary verbs, there are some differences. Lexical verbs serving as auxiliaries follow the normal formations (she does go for a walk vs theydo go for a walk; he has completed his

task vs they have completed their tasks). On the other hand, auxiliaries (e.g. shall, should, will, would, may,might, can, could) that are defective that is, they do not
have the full complement of verb-forms are used without change for the singular and the plural (e.g. singular he can run; likewise the plural they can run). Personal pronouns The personal pronouns singular and plural (first person I/we, second person you/you, third person he~she~it/they) pose some difficulty. With the usual verbs, the first person and the second person pronouns,whether singular or plural, take the plural verb (I/we run, you/you

run), whereas the third person pronoun follows the usual rule, the singular governing the singular verb and the plural the plural verb (he~she~it runs vs they run).
The verb to be is unique in having special forms for use with the personal pronoun.

For the simple present tense, the verb-forms for the singular/plural are as underlined in the following examples: I am vs we are; you (singular)are, likewise you (plural) are; he~she~it is vs they are;

and for the simple past tense I was vs we were; you (singular), likewise you (plural) were;he~she~it was vs they were. The verb to be retains the same special forms when used as auxiliaries, as in the continuous tenses (e.g. I am/was reading, you are/were mumbling, etc.) Other substantives The gerund is always singular, and it invariably governs a singular verb (running one mile is a

cinch for her, but walking two miles is too much for her).

The to-infinitive, when used as a substantive, is singular (to err ishuman) even though it may take a plural object (to make one mistake iscarelessness, but to commit three

mistakes is unforgiveable).
Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns this (plural these) and that (plural those) must accord in number with the associated nouns. Thus: (1) This is the book that you wanted (this, singular, to accord with book, singular); (2)the Forensics Department determined that the remains were those of

the kidnapped victim (those, plural, to agree with remains, plural).

Demonstrative adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives are unlikely to cause difficulty in adjective-noun concordance; thus: this book, these tables, that house, those trees. Phrasal adjectives Phrasal adjectives, particularly those that combine a singular word with a plural, may cause some difficulty. Note the singular or the plural in the following examples: (1) One of theboys is absent; (2) A

great many children have succumbed to the epidemic; (3) Many a housewife has fallen victim to the con man.
Subjects comprising nouns in association There are some simple rules. Nouns joined together by the conjunctionand form a plural subject (a book and a pen were on the table), and the rule applies even in an inverted

construction (there were a book and a pen on the table). [Note, however, that an and-phrase that constitutes a single idea governs a singular verb; e.g. time and tide waits for no man.] Nouns linked by the conjunction or govern a singular or a plural verb depending on the

number of the second element (the table or the chairsare to be disposed of; the chairs or the

table is to be disposed of), and the rule of proximity attraction also holds for pronouns governing the verb to be (he or you are mad; you or he is mad).

For subjects comprising nouns or pronouns linked by one-word prepositions (besides, plus) or even phrasal prepositions (together with,in addition to, etc.), the verb agrees with the first element, the other element being treated as being in parenthesis (he, together with two

companions, is going to climb that mountain).

However, the situation with the phrase as well as is the subject of some controversy. Should we say he as well as his sister were here OR he as well as his sister was here? In other words, is as well as a phrasal conjunction meaning and (thus making the subject plural) OR a phrasal preposition meaning besides (thus making the subject singular)?

According to Fowler (H.W. Fowler, 1977. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Second

edition revised by Sir Ernest Gowers. Oxford University Press), it is time for someone to come is that as well as is a conjunction and not a preposition.

to the rescue of the phrase as well as, which is being cruelly treated. Grammatically, the point On the other hand, Partridge (E. Partridge, 1973. Usage and Abusage.Penguin Books) said that the phrase is often ambiguous, but he made no prescription. Curme (G.O. Curme, 1947. English Grammar. Barnes & Noble Books) was more definite: If a subject in the singular is associated by means ofwith, together with, as well as ... with other gave the example: The girl, as well as the boys, has learned to ride. 1968. Good English. London: Pan Books Ltd). singular, determines the number of the verb. words ..., the subject is now usually in the singular, often in contrast to older usage; and he Let us consider the example on the basis of the prescription by Vallins (G.H. Vallins, 1951, The phrase set out by commas is in parenthesis ..., and the first half of the subject, which is

If a writer wishes to stress the plurality of his subject he will omit the commas and, of course, bring the verb into agreement. Vallins prescription seems to be the norm for now.

A pronouncement on pronouns Rablings By Dr Lim Chin Lam Musing over some peculiar features of pronouns. I HAD previously written on the vagaries of pronouns (MOE, March 31, 2008), but some elaboration. recent examples from the papers (see below) prompted me to re-visit the topic with further

Let us start with basics. A pronoun (from French pronom, ultimately from Latin pronomen,

made up of pro for, in place of + nomen name) is a word used instead of a noun to indicate someone or something already mentioned or known, e.g. I, she, this (Concise Oxford English

Dictionary, 2004). Such definition should be expanded to cover not only nouns but also noun phrases such as to-infinitives used as substantives (to err is human) as well as gerunds functioning as nouns as (walking is a good exercise but many people have no time for it).
Pronouns in general stand in place of a person or thing or substantive mentioned beforehand, the latter being known as the antecedent (Latinante before + cedens/cedentis, present participle of cedere to go). There are, however, instances where the pronoun comes before the person or thing mentioned, in which case the latter would be more correctly termed as the referent (She was known as a saint on earth.Mrs Rajoo had the mien and gentility in

keeping with such reputation she is the referent of Mrs Rajoo).

Types of pronoun

For the record, there are many types of pronoun: (1) personal pronoun (I, you, he/she/it, and

the archaic thou); (2) impersonal pronoun (discussed below); (3) indefinite pronoun (discussed below);(4) emphatic pronoun (myself, yourself, themselves, etc.), which emphasises the doer of

an action (he himself is to blame); (5) reflexive pronoun, which, like emphatic pronouns, has the same suffix -self (for the singular) or -selves (for the plural) but it is necessarily in the accusative/objective case, the referent being the subject of the verb (I cut myself while

shaving); (6) possessive pronoun (mine, ours, yours,theirs, etc.), which is used predicatively to indicate possession (this book is mine) and is to be distinguished from the possessive adjective,which is used attributively (this is my book); (7) demonstrative pronoun (this/these to indicate people or things close to the speaker; and that/those to indicate those at some distance from the speaker); (8) distributive pronoun (to each his own); (9) reciprocal pronouns, which are a pair of pronouns (each other, for two people; or one another, for more than two people), used to express mutual action (the two boys helped each other; the four of us helped one another to prepare for the examination): (10) relative pronoun (who and its declensional forms, used for people (the villagers caught the man whothey suspected was the thief; the villagers caught the man whom they suspected of stealing); which/whichever, for animals and things (he adopted the puppy which fell into the drain); and that, for people or animals or things (this is the house that Jack built), and (11) interrogative pronoun, which applies to certain indefinite pronouns (who and its declensional forms, which, what) which are used in the asking of questions (Who is in charge of this office? To whom do I owe this honour? Whose pen is this? Which is the book that was damaged?What do you want?)
Unusual features of pronouns There is something unusual about personal pronouns, viz. the first person singular and the second person singular. The nominative of the first person singular, I, is capitalized in all situations, that is, regardless of whether it begins a sentence or it occurs in the middle of a

sentence. Even though singular in number, it always governs a plural verb (I sing not I sings). The nominative of the second person, even when singular, also takes a plural verb (you go not you goes).

There is another noteworthy point about pronouns as compared with nouns. Nouns have very limited declensional forms (if the latter be so-called), which add the suffix -s or -es for the plural in the nominative case (boy/boys, bus/buses except for such irregular forms aschild/children, mouse/mice, etc.), and the suffix -s or -s for the genitive/possessive case table.

(boys/boys). In contrast, personal pronouns have more declensional forms, as shown in the

Note: The archaic second person pronoun, thou (equivalent of modernyou), has its own declensional forms: thou, thee, thy, ye. Other pronouns emphatic pronouns, reflexive
The double genitive

pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns also undergo declension to some degree.

One sometimes hears the expression for the life of me. Here the phrase of me, indicating possession, is grammatically equivalent to my so that for the life of me = for my life. However, similar usage in other situations sounds odd (this book of me instead of my book) but perhaps is acceptable in poetry and song. To wit, consider the opening line of the song Secret

Love (from the movie Calamity Jane): Once I had a secret love, that lives within the heart of
usual my heart.

me ..., where, for purpose of rhythm and rhyme, the phrase heart of me is used instead of the Now consider another situation. This book of me is grammatically correct but it sounds odd. and the preposition ofadditionally shows possession), but this expression incorporating a

On the other hand, this book of mine sounds even more odd (mine already shows possession, double genitive is idiomatic and is deemed correct. To wit, refer toLuke 2:30 from the English Revised Version of the Bible: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation ... Alamak! For the life of me, mine mind cannot comprehend why it is mine eyes but thy salvation not thinesalvation to be consistent! The impersonal pronoun? The sentence it rained yesterday contains the impersonal pronoun it, which has no antecedent or referent that is, it is not related to any definite person or thing. On the other hand, the title of Nithya Sidhhus article Make it snappy (MOE, Aug 5) brings to mind the case of

theseemingly impersonal pronoun. The expression Make it snappy my disingenuous friends equivalent is Make it snap, but that is another story means do something quickly. Here the (e.g. job, task, work, etc.) The following are some further snappy expressions containing seemingly impersonal pronouns: (1) Can you beat that? that could be someones feat or joke to be bettered; word it is not an impersonal pronoun: its antecedent is apparent or implied or can be guessed

(2) Beat it it apparently stands for a retreat, so that the expression means to withdraw; means to do something faster or to make it snappy; and (4) Reach for it a favourite

(3) Step on it itapparently stands for the accelerator pedal of a car, so that the expression

utterance in a hold-up in movie westerns and American crime novels, it apparently meaning the ceiling or the sky, depending whether the hold-up takes place indoors or outdoors! The pronouns in place of other pronouns The dictionary definition for pronoun apparently does not include words that stand for other pronouns in other words, pronouns standing in place of other pronouns. Indefinite pronouns (all, anybody, everyone,somebody, what, etc.) have no referent: each of them

represents not a definite person or thing but a person or thing in an indefinite or general way. Nevertheless, another pronoun stands in its stead in subsequent narration. A quick example: subsequent narration, but is replaced by another pronoun him. Note, however, that the Someone is at the door. Tell him to go away. Here the pronoun someone is not repeated in replacing pronoun is conveniently given as him as in days of old, but in modern times when gender-correctness is the watchword, it is him, or her, or him/her, or the incongruous them (see my previous article, loc. cit.) The indefinite pronoun, one, is unusual. It is conventional to repeat the indefinite pronoun one rather than to follow with a replacing pronoun; for example, one reaps what one not he or she sows. What singular and plural A reader (MOE, July 28) asked which version is correct: What he wantsis two houses and some money, or What he wants are two houses and some money. Fadzilah Amin replied that the correct verb is is. She quoted M. Swans Practical English Usage, 2005, p.106, #130.1, which, in full, reads: A what-clause is normally considered to be singular; if it begins a cleft sentence it is followed by is/was. But a plural verb is sometimes possible before a plural noun in an informal style, giving the example: What we want is/are some of those cakes. I feel uneasy with the prescriptions. Fowler (H.W. Fowler, 1977. A Dictionary of Modern

English Usage. Second edition revised by Sir Ernest Gowers; p.691) opines that what can be either singular or plural. One of the examples of what plural given is: What is required are
three bedrooms, a good large living-room ... On my part, I find it easier to bypass Fowlers lengthy discussion and instead to rationalise by transforming a controversial sentence into an inverted construction, when the issue of singular and plural becomes apparent. The sentence posed by the reader, when inverted, becomes: Two houses and some money are what he wants in which the wordwhat now becomes the

predicate complement of the subject two houses and some money. In effect, what is a

pronoun standing in place of two houses and some money, which is plural and therefore cakes are what we want; (2) Three bedrooms, a good large living room ... are what is required.

takes the plural verb are. The same consideration holds for the following: (1) Some of those

What of the two examples from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (new edition) quoted by the reader? The first example, What matters is the British people and British jobs (with the singular verb is), I would consider as informal on the cue from Swan. The second example, What that kid needs is some love and affection (also with the singular verb is), I would deem correct, considering that some love and affection expresses one idea and is, therefore, singular. Pronouns at cross-purposes?

I hear the doorbell. Lets see whose (oops! sorry, whos) at the door. Its(oops! sorry again, its) the newspaper vendor. Im sure I have kept up with my subscription.