Ask the English Teacher

Taking a Break

Several people have written to me recently with questions, and I'm sorry I haven't answered them yet. I've been involved in a project that is taking almost all my time, and just haven't been able to post here.

On Friday my wife and I are going on a short holiday. When we get back next week, I'll try to catch up on your questions...which I must say I enjoy a lot. Thanks for your patience!

Missing Article or Missing Apostrophe?

Franky writes:
I have a question again about article usage. I've found a line that goes:

"Eighty percent of the paper will be graded on content and the remaining 20 percent wil be graded on the evaluation of student's writing and correct use of APA format."

My question is why there is no article--such as "the"-- before the word "student." I found this line in a syllabus for my class.

I feel a pang of sympathy for the overworked instructor who wrote that sentence! It usually takes me three trial printouts before I've caught all the errors in my course outlines and other materials. Well, most of the errors.

In this case, you're right. It should be "the student's writing." It might also be a misplaced apostrophe: "evaluation of students' writing." No article is needed in this usage.

But the sentence refers to "the paper," presumably the work of a single student. So we're back to a missing article. As a longtime member of the Overworked Instructors' Union, I'm sure my colleague simply omitted the article by accident, and didn't notice the error.

Civil War?

Victor asks:
Can you shed some light on the meaning of the phrase(?), "Intercine War." Lately I have noticed an increase in the use of the word "intercine" coupled with a noun. For example: Intercine War, DeLay Inc. goes to war. Another common coupling is: Intercine violence. The foregoing suggests "Civil War" may be a good substitution. But, is it? I cannot find "intercine" in the several dictionaries I have searched. Please, would you guide me?

The word you want is "internecine," pronounced IN-ter-NEE-sin. It comes from the Latin: "inter" (between, among) and "necare" (to kill). It means a conflict destructive to both sides, or very bloody. We do tend to use it to describe civil wars: "The United States fought a terrible internecine war from 1861 to 1865."

If you've seen "intercine" in headlines, you're reading newspapers that need new editors...and "editor" was originally the Latin word for the sponsor of a gladiatorial combat, which also involved hacking, slashing, amputation, and internecine violence!

One or many?

Deb asks:
Help! Which is correct: "One of the physicians who has referred patients," or "One of the physicians who have referred patients"?

This is a tricky one, because we tend to make the verb agree with the nearest noun, even if it's not the subject. The subject is "One," so the verb ought to be singular. But it depends on whether the subordinate clause ("who...referred patients") is describing "physicians" or "one." So the context is important,and we should be specific about that context.

For example: "Three physicians share the office. She is the only one of the physicians who has referred patients to our clinic."

Or: "Many doctors know of our clinic. She is one of the physicians who have referred patients to us."

Here's another example: "Deb is one of many people who have written to me for advice."

Or: "Deb is the one person who has asked for advice about this particular grammar question."

Beer or Beers?

Confused in Jackson, Mississippi asks:
Which is correct? Case of Beer or Case of Beers; Case of Coke or Case of Cokes. I know that it is a carton of cigarettes, but we tend to say case of beer and case of cokes.

This is a challenging question, especially for one who loves his home-brewed beer.

I would say "case of beer" and "case of Coke" just as I would say "case of champagne" or "case of Glenfiddich." We are talking about the kind of drink, even when we're using a brand name. Only when we start discussing individual portions should we use the plural: "I was so thirsty I drank three Cokes." (Note the capital letter—Coke is a brand name.) "After six beers, he was in no state to drive."

But in Canada we tend to treat "beer" as a plural: "We went down to the pub and had a few beer." This may not be "proper" English, but it's proper Canadian! When we use slang, however, we go back to normal plurals: "We went down to the pub and had a few brewskis."

Even Canadians, however, would say "beers" when discussing varieties of the beverage: "The beers of Canada are better than American beers." (I'm not saying they really are better, but try to find a Canadian who prefers American beers.)

Self-Learning?

Alva writes:
I know people involved in teaching English that refer to a particular course as "a self-learning programme." They speak about "discovering the joy of self-learning."

In the only other language I speak (Afrikaans) it is correct to say "Ek het myself geleer om te dans" which translated directly is "I learned myself how to dance." Also it is correct to say "Ek sal jou leer hoe om te dans" which translated directly is " I will learn you how to dance." In Afrikaans and possibly other languages the same word is used for learn and teach.

My argument is that in the English idiom you cannot say "self-learning" because nobody else can learn on your behalf. Likewise it is incorrect to say " I self ate the food" this does not make sense. Nobody can swallow or eat something for you. The word learn automatically implies doing it yourself.

Please could you shed more light on this question.

You've touched a hot button, Alva. My wife and I always marvel at signs for "Self-Storage," as if customers wanted to put themselves in lockers.

Meantime or Meanwhile?

Vineeta asks:
Recently, someone who speaks English well challenged me that "in the meanwhile" is a grammatically correct expression. I know for a certainty that it’s not. We either say "in the meantime" or simply "meanwhile," as the ‘while’ implies the interim period. Right?

Can you please confirm this, along with the rationale behind it.

Excellent question! You're right, but not for the reason you suggest. "Meanwhile" is an adverb, modifying the verb in the sentence:

"Meanwhile, I went into a bookstore." (tells us when I went)

"Meantime," however, is a noun, and it takes a preposition like "in" or "for":

"In the meantime, I went into a bookstore."
"For the meantime, I won't decide one way or the other."

In sentences like these, "meantime" is pretty much identical to "recess" or "break" or "intermission"—none of which we would use without a preposition.

Nevertheless, many people do use "meantime" as a synonym for "meanwhile"—even announcers on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, who ought to know better.