Nonstandard usage

Nobody likes homework, but sometimes, it is inevitable especially to avoid mistakes/embarrassments in writing.



The word 'learned' is very rarely used in the passive voice except in the nonstandard usage to mean instructed or taught; but I notice such a usage in one of the three articles by Luke Teoh (Sept 3: Don’t pronounce everything! Sept 17: Grape Britain? Gedoutahea! and Sept 18: Don’t be afraid to elide) appearing in Mind our English.

That has prompted me to write the following e-mail.

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Associate Editor
Editor of Mind our English
The Star

Dear Sir,

Luke Teoh has indeed written three eye-opening articles in your column, first of which was ranked number one in the TOP5 MOST VIEWED STORIES ONLINE on its day of publication.

Sept 17: Grape Britain? Gedoutahea!
It's a shame that some of us in Malaysia with a very impressive command of spoken English tend to speak as though we were addressing a public meeting. It shows that we have not been learned to understand an informal style of speech.

Reproduced above is the first paragraph of the second article. I am rather surprised to notice in the second sentence therein, the nonstandard usage of the word 'learned' in the passive voice.

There must be a good reason for such usage which, will, hopefully, be disclosed.

Thank you.

Unquote

The following self-explanatory reply has been received:-

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Sorry, that was an error in editing. The word "been" should not have been there.

Thank you for pointing it out.

Best wishes,
Associate Editor
Editor of Mind our English
The Star

Unquote

More means better?

In fishing, more in the catch is the desired result; but in writing, the expected outcome cannot be achieved by mere use of more words.


They are singing songs of hope, a hope to be of help to those in distress through Befrienders' phone counselling.

The above sentence is the frontpage headline of a pullout in a popular national English daily.

The said headline can be recast with fewer words without loss of its intended meaning as under:-

They are singing songs of hope aiming to help those in distress through Befrienders' phone counselling.

Examine what is said, not him who speaks.
-- Arab Proverb

"Revert"

Are answers to all questions available in books?




In my earlier article Annoying mistakes, I have shown the discussion of the usage of the word "revert".

The discussion has again appeared in The Star's MIND OUR ENGLISH section, and that has prompted me to write an e-mail to its editor.

Below is the editor's e-mail reply received by me:-

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Fadzilah Amin answers your question(s):

The fact that big organisations in Malaysia have allowed their staff to use “revert” to mean “reply” and “revert to” to mean “reply to” or “get back to” for 50 years, has not changed the meaning of this word in the English language.

I have scoured several reputable dictionaries of British and American English, including the comprehensive 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, and nowhere is “revert” defined as “reply” or “revert to” defined as “reply to” or “get back to” in current or past usage.

“Revert” meaning “to come back to a subject” ,which you mentioned, is used, for example, in:

1) “To revert to what we were discussing before we were interrupted, why do you think Roger Federer is the greatest ever tennins player?”

It would be wrong to use it in the following way:

2) “The bank would would revert to you with an explanation and/or decision soon.”

“Revert to” as used in sentence 1) means “go back to (a former subject of discourse) (OED, meaning 6 a.) But unfortunately, in Malaysia, it is often used wrongly when someone wants to say “get back to/reply to (someone)”.

The following are two examples from the Internet of the word “revert” used correctly to mean “to go back to a former condition or practice”. The first example comes from the website of the Bank of England, while the second is from that of Bank Negara Malaysia:

The model assesses the contribution of investment, acquisitions, cash flows and market-to-book values to the determination of debt, and also the tendency of debt to revert to its optimum level.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/workingpapers/wp317.pdf

ATM services would continue to be provided for at least 5 continuous hours from 7.00 am to 12 noon. From 1 January 2000 onwards, the ATMs will revert to their normal operating hours from 7.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.

http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=8&pg=14&ac=607

Unquote

In fact, my edited question and the said reply were published in MIND OUR ENGLISH under the sub-headline But ‘revert’ has been used a long time.

The answer may have discounted the following points raised (in 'Annoying mistakes'):-

1) The fact that the British people have used “revert” in correspondence calling for a response, and

2) urbandictionary.com (which has given the meanings/definitions as) write back, reply: in other words divert my attention back to you. Indian English - (as) I will revert to you in due course. (sign-off for a business letter)

If you take answers with a grain of salt, you may learn more.
- Anonymous.

Lurking danger of pronouns

We need to be vigilant in a seemingly calm situation.






Using pronouns is a good way of avoiding bad repetition of a word or a phrase. However, there is always the lurking danger awaiting the unwary writer of slipping into ambiguity.

The mother and daughter are obviously very close. She is very sweet. These two adjoining sentences are taken from a popular national English daily.

Those are two simple sentences easily understood by anybody, but who can be sure that whom the 'she' is representing or referring to?

We have always to be careful in our writing so that our readers need not do any guesswork to understand us.

Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward.
-- Anonymous

Good writing

Documents in good writing can easily accompany anyone round the world without giving any communication problem.








Invariably, all English language reference books are teaching their readers to construct sentences that are well structured and grammatically correct and capable of conveying their messages sucessfully with the right tone and style. Sentences are, therefore, not merely words strung together.

Now, look at the following sentence taken from an advertorial of a popular national English daily and see whether it depicts the techniques shown above:-

This gives us the unique position of presiding over the production and ingredients every step of the way from our healthy cows to finished products, to guarantee our customers absolute food safety, security and traceability.

The sentence does not appear to be well constructed. What do you understand by presiding over the production and ingredients...?

Obviously, a recast of the sentence is necessary to reflect its intended meaning/message.

One of the ways is : This gives us the unique position of supervising every step of the production process including choice of ingredients from our healthy cows to finished products and thus enabling us to guarantee our customers of absolute food safety, security and traceability.

No one is without knowledge except him who asks no questions.
-- West African Proverb