Ask the English Teacher

Interring the Deceased

Letty asks:
Could you please tell me the difference between "decease" and "inter" in the next sentence:
He has been deceased or interred for ten years.
What is the correct verb?

The correct verb is "deceased," which means "dead." To be interred is to be buried (from the Latin terra, meaning earth or soil. Eventually we will all be deceased, but not all of us will be interred; some of us may be cremated, or mummified, or even frozen in liquid nitrogen in hopes of being thawed out at some future date!

Eether? Eyether?

Kathie writes:
My question from a student is, "What is the correct pronunciation...'either'/ 'ither' , 'neither' /'nither'"? Or are both pronunciations ok for each word?

Both pronunciations are correct. I tend to use the long i pronunciation, but sometimes I use long e instead. Now that I think of it, my choice may depend on the context. It's awkward to pronounce the same vowel sound twice: "He couldn't stop me, and you can't stop me ee-ther." So I'd say "He couldn't stop me, and you can't stop me eye-ther."

When to Capitalize "Company"

Ed writes:
I would like to know how to determine when to capitalize Company in a sentence. The following are two different sentences, one with company not capitalized and one with Company capitalized. I can't figure out why one is capitalized and one is not.

Based on the strategies discussed above, the Company then developed relevant performance measures.

Based on this analysis, Bright Shine came up with a few strategies that they thought would help the company better reach its goals, along with some key measures that would allow the company to monitor its progress.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for a very good question!

Team Names: Plural or Singular?

Patti writes:
Hello, I am writing a paper on sports teams. All sports teams have names that end in S
Ex: Chicago Bears, Detroit Pistons, etc.
(or indicate plural such as SOX)

The exception is the Miami Heat.
Would they be treated as plural similar to their friends with s at the end of their name?

Usage example:
The Detroit Pistons are a hardworking team
The Miami Heat is a hardworking team.

Super question! Collective nouns like team names can cause problems. North Americans and Brits tend to deal with them differently. For example, it's correct to write:

General Motors IS facing a strike by the Canadian Auto Workers, which IS a major union.

The organization's name may end in a plural noun, but the whole name is still singular. (You wouldn't say "Tiger Woods are a great golfer"!)

We tend to say: "The government is grappling with the problem." The Brits would say: "The government ARE grappling with the problem."

And while we North Americans would probably say "The Miami Heat is a hardworking team," I'd be tempted to follow British sportswriting usage, which always says: "Liverpool are a hardworking team, but Manchester are smarter." If nothing else, treating "Heat" as plural would make North American readers pay closer attention!

Plural of "C.O.D"

Anne asks:
What is the preferred plural form of the abbreviation for "cash on delivery" (c.o.d.'s, CODs)?

Often-used abbreviations tend to lose their periods, but c.o.d (or C.O.D.) still has them. The style guide of the Editors' Association of Canada says that we should form plurals by simply adding "s." So we should write:

These orders are all c.o.d.s.

I know—it looks odd. Rather than end the sentence that way, I might revise it to say:

These orders are all c.o.d.s, but we haven't filled them yet.

Or I might chicken out completely and write:

We have several c.o.d. orders that we haven't filled yet.

Commas' Influence on Meaning

Sandi writes:
We all know that commas placed in a sentence can change the meaning.
Mom said Christina has a great sense of humor.
Mom, said Christina, has a great sense of humor.

My question is applied to the article below.

Definition of accessory use or structure.
A subordinate use or structure customarily incidental to and located on the same lot occupied by the main use or building.

I say that because there is no comma after "to" and between "and" that the word customarily applies to both the "incidental to" and the "located on the same lot occupied by the main use or building." Without the comma the sentence does not say what the structure is incidental to and is an incomplete thought. Therefore I read it to say, "customarily a structure is incidental to and located on the same lot."

The other person says that the customarily does not apply to the "located on the same lot" and just to the incidental to part. Thus meaning that it has to be located on the same lot and the customary part does not apply.

Could you tell me if the "customarily" should include the second part of the sentence?

Preposition with "Pass"?

Andrea asks:
What would be the correct preposition to use with "pass," as in a mountain pass? Would it be "below," "beneath," or something else? I'm trying to describe the location of a lake, which is below/beneath/? Rabbit Ears Pass, just outside of Steamboat Springs, CO.

"Beneath" would suggest a subterranean lake, "500 feet beneath Rabbit Ears Pass." So I'd write something like "The lake is 500 feet below Rabbit Ears Pass."

Collective Noun for Teachers

Yasir asks:
Please let me know the collective noun for the word "teachers."

Good question, because it points out a distinction between kinds of educators. "Teachers" may refer to anyone, from kindergarten to graduate school, but we usually apply it to educators in the primary and secondary schools—what North Americans call "K-12." We don't have a collective noun for these, just a plural:

The teachers will hold a meeting for parents on Thursday evening.

But in tertiary (post-secondary) education, we are no longer mere teachers. We are instructors and professors. The collective noun for us is "faculty":

The faculty are meeting in the main auditorium. As a faculty member, you should be there.

In recent years we have seen another collective noun that applies to the whole group of post-secondary teachers, especially in the universities: "professoriate." This word clearly comes from "proletariate," meaning the working class as defined by Karl Marx, and carries a slightly ironic connotation. Faculty members may be concerned about academic standards; the professoriate is concerned, as a class, about its own benefits and privileges.

Away Again

My wife and I are taking a holiday on Malcolm Island, way north of Vancouver. To get a sense of the place, visit http://www.sointulacottages.com/

Keep sending me your questions. I may not get a chance to read them while we're away, but I'll respond soon after we're home, on the 19th or 20th.

Comma Dilemma

Paula writes:
We have a comma dilemma. In a sentence we are writing the following:
“Delivery” Article 2

which is a reference to Delivery in Article 2 of an Agreement. The question: Is it proper for the comma to go outside of the quote marks (instead of commas always go inside the quote marks) because the two words are related?

When I teach the legal administrative assistants in my college, this issue comes up often. Yes, normally commas and periods go inside the quotation marks. In legal writing, however, anything inside quotation marks is presumed to have appeared in the original statement. So if the word "Delivery" is a quotation, punctuate it as

"Delivery", Article 2

If, however, you are using the quotation marks simply to emphasize the word, you can put the comma inside. Quotation marks for emphasis are generally not a good idea. They are acceptable when setting off the word for definition:

"Delivery", in this case, shall mean signed acceptance of the document.