Voice on the phone
I received an annoying call on Thursday. It was from a chap who called himself, Chong ( the name was false, I believe – see below) and claims to be the uncle of one of my students. This person called to complain that the language I used in class was bad English, and he wanted me to admit it and probably apologize. So, I asked him for proof which of course he was very reluctant to give. When I refused to entertain him further he relented and gave me two sentences that he claimed were ungrammatical and thus inappropriate for an English class. The sentences are,
You can send either Ali or his brother to the hospital
The tourists were sent to the airport for departure.
He claimed to have asked some ‘English experts” who told him that these sentences were wrong. It was unfortunate for this chap that he may have asked either the wrong person or someone who was afraid to tell him that he was wrong. The first sentence,
“You can send either Ali or his brother to the hospital” he said should be, “You can either send Ali or his brother to hospital”. If “Chong” had done his research, he would find that the http://www.dictionary.com/ (backed by the American Heritage dictionary) says, “The following is regarded as incorrect: You may either have the ring or the bracelet (properly, You may have either the ring or the bracelet).” You don’t have to take the website’s word for it, Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, the Azar book and any good gramar book will tell you the same thing. As for ‘the hospital’, hospital is hardly a proper noun and nouns can take a determiner or an article, any good grammar book will tell you that also.
The second sentence, according to Chong, was wrong because you cannot say, ‘for departure’. If, again, Chong, had done his research, even if a basic one on the net, he would find that the American Heritage dictionary and other dictionaries say that ‘departure’ is a noun. More importantly, not a proper noun like Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. The noun phrase with a noun and not a proper noun as a head can take a determiner or an article, the Azar book gives a particularly good explanation of this but if Chong wants a voluminous explanation he should look it up in the Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.
I was curious as to who the ‘language expert’ Chong mentioned was. He of course would not say. He then went on to insult me by questioning my educational qualifications which, unfortunately for Chong, includes training in morphology, syntax and semantics. I think he was getting increasingly incensed by my refusal to say that he was right and admit that I was wrong. He then unintentionally revealed his true intentions when he said, “You are Malay, aren’t you?” “I said yes and he commented, “Malays have a problem with English”. He realized his mistake when I said, “So this is a race thing then.” He then went on to make up more complaints but by this time I had switched off and I was simply trying to hang up politely because I make it a policy to ignore bigots and racists, more so ignorant ones.
He kept insisting that I admit that I prove that I am right instead of telling him to prove that he was right. I mentioned that the burden of proof was on him but obviously this person is also ignorant of the evidence laws.
He then said he was going to write a letter to the university management, the accreditation body and to the ministry, which I told him to go ahead and hung up. I decided to dig things up a little and I noted the number on my caller ID and called the number. It belongs to a private college nearby and the person answering told me that they do not have anybody on the staff named Chong. I spoke to their head of English department and she verified this. I also learnt from her that the telephone there was only for staff. So if this chap was not a staff member and he was using the phone, he was violating a rule in addition to giving a false name. Moreover, she said that she had not heard of this matter.
Anyway, I hope that this “Chong” person would do some research. I recommend that he look up the word ‘defamation’.
You can send either Ali or his brother to the hospital
The tourists were sent to the airport for departure.
He claimed to have asked some ‘English experts” who told him that these sentences were wrong. It was unfortunate for this chap that he may have asked either the wrong person or someone who was afraid to tell him that he was wrong. The first sentence,
“You can send either Ali or his brother to the hospital” he said should be, “You can either send Ali or his brother to hospital”. If “Chong” had done his research, he would find that the http://www.dictionary.com/ (backed by the American Heritage dictionary) says, “The following is regarded as incorrect: You may either have the ring or the bracelet (properly, You may have either the ring or the bracelet).” You don’t have to take the website’s word for it, Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, the Azar book and any good gramar book will tell you the same thing. As for ‘the hospital’, hospital is hardly a proper noun and nouns can take a determiner or an article, any good grammar book will tell you that also.
The second sentence, according to Chong, was wrong because you cannot say, ‘for departure’. If, again, Chong, had done his research, even if a basic one on the net, he would find that the American Heritage dictionary and other dictionaries say that ‘departure’ is a noun. More importantly, not a proper noun like Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. The noun phrase with a noun and not a proper noun as a head can take a determiner or an article, the Azar book gives a particularly good explanation of this but if Chong wants a voluminous explanation he should look it up in the Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.
I was curious as to who the ‘language expert’ Chong mentioned was. He of course would not say. He then went on to insult me by questioning my educational qualifications which, unfortunately for Chong, includes training in morphology, syntax and semantics. I think he was getting increasingly incensed by my refusal to say that he was right and admit that I was wrong. He then unintentionally revealed his true intentions when he said, “You are Malay, aren’t you?” “I said yes and he commented, “Malays have a problem with English”. He realized his mistake when I said, “So this is a race thing then.” He then went on to make up more complaints but by this time I had switched off and I was simply trying to hang up politely because I make it a policy to ignore bigots and racists, more so ignorant ones.
He kept insisting that I admit that I prove that I am right instead of telling him to prove that he was right. I mentioned that the burden of proof was on him but obviously this person is also ignorant of the evidence laws.
He then said he was going to write a letter to the university management, the accreditation body and to the ministry, which I told him to go ahead and hung up. I decided to dig things up a little and I noted the number on my caller ID and called the number. It belongs to a private college nearby and the person answering told me that they do not have anybody on the staff named Chong. I spoke to their head of English department and she verified this. I also learnt from her that the telephone there was only for staff. So if this chap was not a staff member and he was using the phone, he was violating a rule in addition to giving a false name. Moreover, she said that she had not heard of this matter.
Anyway, I hope that this “Chong” person would do some research. I recommend that he look up the word ‘defamation’.
Comments
I think the most amusing part of this is that fact that most native English speakers (dolts that we are) would be totally clueless about these points of grammar!
Dave