ANMI English Tips & Tools: 2009

2009-12-27

Staff Do or Does

The word "staff" is a collective noun. This means that "staff" can have two meanings. For example:

1. A group of assistants to a manager, executive, or other person in authority.¹
2. The members of a group of assistants to a manager, executive, or other person in authority.

Here are some examples of using the word "staff" as a single unit:

1. The staff is busy.
2. The staff has a meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Here are some examples of using a similar word "team" as a single unit:

1. The team is busy.
2. The team has a meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Here are some examples of using the word "staff" as a collective group of people:

1. The staff are busy. (The staff members are busy.)
2. The staff have a meeting at 3:00 p.m. (The staff members have a meeting at 3:00 p.m.)

Here are some examples of using a similar word "team" as a collective group of people:

1. The team are busy. (The team players are busy.)
2. The team have a meeting at 3:00 p.m. (The team players have a meeting at 3:00 p.m.)

So, if you use the collective noun "staff" as a unit, then use the singular verb form (is, has, goes, etc.). If you mean every member of the staff, use the plural verb form (are, have, go, etc.).

If you want to talk about two, three, or more groups of staff, then the word is "staffs."

Here are some more examples. Remember, if you mean "staff" as ONE GROUP, then use the singular verb. If you mean "staff" as MANY MEMBERS in the group, then use the plural verb.

Singular: ABC Corporation hired a sales staff of 60 employees on Tuesday.
Singular: A sales staff of 60 empolyees was hired by ABC Corporation on Tuesday.
Singular: Our sales staff has one team leader and three engineers.
Singular: Each of our staff uses an iPhone at work.
Singular: My staff is waiting for you at the airport. (The one group of people who belong to my staff.)

Plural: ABC Corporation hired 60 sales staff employees on Tuesday.
Plural: Sixty sales staff employees were hired by ABC Corporation on Tuesday.
Plural: Our sales staff has one team leader and three engineers.
Plural: All of our staff use iPhones at work.
Plural: My staff are waiting for you at the airport. (Several members of the people who belong to my staff.)

Note: If you want to talk or write about several groups of staff (sales staff, engineering staff, administration staff), then use "staffs" and a plural verb.

English definition of staff: (plural, staffs) A group of assistants to a manager, executive, or other person in authority.¹

Japanese definition of staff: 集合的, 単/複扱い□職員[スタッフ, 班, チーム, 陣](*特定の職員グループ, あるいは, ある責任者の下で仕事をする全スタッフ), □単複同形□フタッフの一員[職員, 部員, 要員]²

1. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

2. CD-ビジネス技術実用英語大辞典英和・和英/用例・文例第4版

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2009-12-18

Christmas Necklace

Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here are today's English bloopers:

Original English:

1. My wife wants necklace.
(私の奥さんはネックレスが欲しいです。）

2. I will buy one to Christmas present.
（クリスマスプレゼントとしてネックレスを買いたいと思います。)

Can you find the mistakes? How would your rephrase these sentences?

1. My wife wants necklace.
※ 「necklace」は数えられる名詞です。数えられる名詞の前に必ず定冠詞の「the」また不定冠詞の「a」、「an」、「some」をつけてください。

→ My wife wants a necklace.

2. I will buy one to Christmas present.
※　「buy ～ to + 名詞」は間違っています。　「buy ～ to + 動詞」ならOKです。
例：　I will buy one to give (to) her for Christmas.
例：　I will buy one to give (to) her for her birthday.

※　「buy ～ + for」 + 「何のため」をお勧めします。
例：　I will buy one for her Christmas present.
例：　I will buy one for her birthday present.

→　I will buy one for her Christmas present.

Extra tips:

×　My wife wants necklace. I will buy one to Christmas present.

◎　My wife wants a necklace. I will buy one to give her for Christmas.
◎　My wife wants a necklace. I will buy one for her Christmas present.

⇒　Since my wife wants a necklace for Christmas, I will buy one for her at Tiffany's.
⇒　My wife wants a necklace for Christmas, so I will try to buy one for her online.
⇒　My wife said that she wants a necklace for Christmas, so I will go shopping for one at Macy's Department Store this weekend.

Do you have any questions or comments regarding today's bloopers? Do you have any questions or comments about my suggestions? (Did you find any mistakes in my Japanese?) Please send me email, leave a comment below, or ask me in class!

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2009-12-16

English Bloopers: Fun Days, Snorkel, Fishes, Regret

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here are today's English bloopers:

1. It was very fun days.
→ 楽しい日々でした。
2. We did a snorkel.
→ シュノーケリングしました。
3. Many fishes swam the sea.
→ たくさんの魚が泳いでいました。
4. We bought many things without our regret.
→ 後悔しないようにたくさん買物をしました。

How would your rephrase these bloopers? Here are some suggestions:

1. It was very fun days.
※ It + days は間違っています。

→ It was a very fun trip.

⇒ I went to Hawaii on a fun trip.
⇒ I went on a wonderful trip to Hawaii!
⇒ I had an exciting vacation in Hawaii!
⇒ I went to Hawaii and had a good time!
⇒ I had a good time in Hawaii!
⇒ I went to Hawaii and had a wonderful vacation!

2. We did a snorkel.
※　do (did) + snorkel は間違っています。

→ We did snorkeling.
→ We snorkeled.

⇒ We went to the beach and enjoyed snorkeling.
⇒ We had fun snorkeling.
⇒ We went to the beach to enjoy some snorkeling.

3. Many fishes swam the sea.
※　fishes は間違っています。（２種類以上をさすときは fishes）

→　Many fish swam in the sea.

⇒　There were many beautiful fish swimming around us.
⇒　We were surrounded by many schools of fish.
⇒　We enjoyed the sight of schools of fish swimming around us.

4. We bought many things without our regret.
※ without + our (your/my/his/her/etc.) + regret は不自然です。

→　We bought many things without regret.

⇒　We bought many things that were cheaper or unavailable in Japan
⇒　We bought a lot of things that we were sure we wouldn't be able to get in Japan or were not as cheap.

・・・

Do you have any questions or comments regarding today's bloopers? Please send me email or ask me in class!

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2009-11-09

One Space vs Two Spaces

Photo by Carlos Paes (Link)

In junior high school, we were taught to add two blank spaces after every period in typewriting class. This was primarily due to the fact that typewriters had monospaced typefaces. Using two spaces made it easy to see the end of a sentence. For example:

Monospace font (Courier) with two spaces after the period:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi non ante sit amet purus facilisis imperdiet. Sed varius ante ut mauris iaculis et venenatis sapien condimentum. Phasellus ultricies, felis et mattis vulputate, erat felis feugiat libero, vitae interdum risus elit vel nisi.

However, since the mid-nineties, I haven't used a typewriter. Using a computer and word processing software, we can choose to use proportionally spaced fonts. Using proportionally spaced fonts, there is not need to add the extra blank space after the period. For example:

Proportionally spaced font (Times) with one space after the period:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi non ante sit amet purus facilisis imperdiet. Sed varius ante ut mauris iaculis et venenatis sapien condimentum. Phasellus ultricies, felis et mattis vulputate, erat felis feugiat libero, vitae interdum risus elit vel nisi.

Basically, I feel that adding the extra space is non-standard in the 21st Century. It is a waste of effort and over the long run, a waste of paper for exceptionally long documents. Finally, it is distracting. A good writer doesn't want to have anything distract his or her readers from the writing. So, in a nutshell, just add one space after each period. At ANMI Eikaiwa, we basically advise our students to use one space.

Jacci howard Bear at About.com¹ wrote on this topic and offers some excellent justifications for one space after the period. My favorite style manual, The Chicago Manual of Style,² also offers some reasons for the single space.

1. Use One Space Between Sentences; Desktop Publishing Rules on Spacing After Punctuation by Jacci Howard Bear, About.com
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/typespacing/a/onetwospaces.htm
2. The Chicago Manual of Style Online, 15th Edition
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/OneSpaceorTwo/OneSpaceorTwo03.html

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2009-09-08

Anxious -vs- Worry

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What's the difference between “anxious” and “worry”?

In one of today's classes, a student had written the following sentence as a part of her writing assignment:

“She is very anxious about her students.”

Technically speaking, there is nothing wrong with this sentence. The word “anxious” is defined as:

Uneasy and apprehensive about an uncertain event or matter; worried.

However, the Usage Panel of the The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language noted that

“ . . . general adoption of anxious to mean “eager” is understandable, at least in colloquial discourse, since it provides a means of adding emotional urgency to an assertion.”

Based on the context of the writing assignment, it wasn't very clear if the “teacher” was “worried” or “eager” about her students.

So, I suggested that our student use “worry” instead of “anxious.” What do you think? If you go to 英辞郎 on the Web (http://www.alc.co.jp/index.html), you can find hundreds more of good examples that cover both nuances of the word anxious.

If you have any questions or comments regarding today's topic, leave comment on this blog (see at the bottom), leave a comment on Facebook, send me a tweet, or just ask me in class!

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/facebook-anmieikaiwa
Twitter: http://twitter.com/anmieikaiwa
Website: http://www.anmi-eikaiwa.com
Mobile: http://www.anmiweb.com/mobile/

Additional notes:

anxious¹: 心配、不安 (worry, concern, etc.)

English：　I am anxious about my future.
日本語:　私の将来に不安を感じる。

English: She is anxious about my health.
日本語:　彼女は僕の健康を心配しています。

anxious²: 心から願っている、切望している (eager, anticipate, etc.)

English: He is anxious to see you.
日本語:　彼はあなたにとても会いたがっています。

English: With anxious expectation I always look forward to the summers in Tokyo.
日本語:　私はいつも東京の夏をワクワクしながら待っています。

References:

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2009-09-05

Happy Birthday!

誕生日メッセージ

Two of my brothers who are twins will have a birthday on September 4th (today in the States). I can't believe that they will be 41 years old! So, today's topic will be about how to tell someone “Happy Birthday” in English with your non-Japanese friends!

In Japanese, I think most people just simply say, 「お誕生日おめでとう！」. In English, we have numerous ways to express a birthday greeting.

みいちゃんママ（妹尾佳江） has some good suggestions with a Japanese translation:

- http://www1.tmtv.ne.jp/~mie/hp/birthday.html

Birthday Messges.com has a good page of many different messages that you can use for just the right person and situation:

- http://www.birthdaymessages.com/

(If you visit Birthday Messages.com, be sure to use a Firefox or Chrome browser. This site is free to access, so consequently, they use pop-up advertisements.)

Some of the very basic messages I have used in the past including the following:

1. Have a happy birthday!
2. It's your birthday! Have a happy day!
3. Birthday wishes especially for you!
4. Hope you have a wonderful birthday!
5. Best wishes for you on your birthday!
6. Happy birthday and wishes for many more!
7. Hope all your birthday wishes come true!
8. Here's to another year! Happy birthday!
9. Here's wishing you have a wonderful birthday!
10. Happy birthday and many happy returns!
11. Congratulations on another year! Happy birthday”
12. Here's to many more happy years!
13. Wishing you a very special day on your birthday!

Here are some more birthday messages that you can use for SMS:

1. happy b-day 2 u!
2. hope u have a happy b-day!
3. happy b-day 2 u!
4. happybirthday2uuuu!

Do you know of any other birthday messages? Do you want to try to make your own? Please let me know via Facebook, Twitter, email, leave a comment below, or ask me in class!

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2009-09-01

Blue Skies Over Manhattan

私の弟が撮ったマンハッタンの写真です。

その写真の英語タイトルは「Blue skies over Manhattan」です。今日のテーマは「Blue Skies」と「sky vs. skies」です。

We have several ways to express 「青空」 in everyday English. Here are some examples:

- blue skies
- clear, blue skies
- a/the blue sky
- a/the cloudless blue sky

色々な言い方がありますね！英辞郎（http://www.alc.co.jp/）では「azure sky // blue canopy // blue expanse // canopy of heaven」まで乗っています。（英辞郎の方がちょっと詩的な表現ですが。）

写真のタイトルでは、これでもいいでしょう。

- Beautiful skies over Manhattan.
- Nice view of the skies over Manhattan.
- Clear, blue skies over Manhattan.

ところで、普通に「空」は「sky」に訳ますが、何で弟は「ｓｋｙ」の複数形の「skies」にしたのだろうか？

英語では、「ｓｋｙ」は「天空、空、天国、等」の意味します。　特に、天気の話の場合、よく「skies」とします。

例えば：

- gloomy skies（どんよりした空模様）
- skies were clear（晴れた）
- fair skies（晴れでしょう）
- blue skies（青い空）

So, there are many ways to express 「青空」 in English. When talking about the weather, be sure to use the word "skies" instead of just "sky."

If you have any questions, leave a comment below, leave a comment at Facebook (http://is.gd/2Lmn9), send me a tweet (http://twitter.com/anmieikaiwa), or ask me in class.

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2009-08-28

Inspect and Enter vs. Check Out and Enroll

Many Japanese high school seniors or 12th graders (高校3年生) visit college campuses during summer. They are trying to decide what college they want to go to next year.

One of my students is a high school senior and told me about her visit to some college campuses. She told me:

I inspected some colleges with my friend last week. Many high school students inspect some schools that they want to enter. We call this event "Open Campus."

1. Inspect vs. Check Out

The word "inspect" can have a sense of 検査する, 視察する, or 調べる. For example:

a. All belongings must be inspected by customs officers. (すべての所持品は税関職員によって検査されなければならない。)

b. The commission went and inspected the site. (委員会は、現地まで出向いて視察した。)

However, "check out" can have a sense of 体験, チェックする, or 確認する. For example:

a. Don't you think we should check it out? (確認してみた方がいいんじゃない？)

b. I want to check out this book. (この本を借りたいんですけど。)

c. Check out our home page for more details! (詳しい情報はホームページでチェックしよう！)

2. Enter vs. Enroll

The word "enter" can have a sense of 入る, 突き抜ける, 入力する, or 記入する. For example:

a. She entered the room quietly. (彼女は静かに部屋に入った。)

b. All the guests entered their names on the list. (客はみんな自分の名前を名簿に記入した。)

The word "enroll" has a strong sense of 入学する. For example:

a. They had to pass a rigorous exam in order to enroll. (入学するには厳しい試験に合格しなければならなかった。)

b. I don't think that it's too late for you to enroll. (入学するのに遅過ぎることはないと思う。)

So, I suggested that our student use the following English as follows:

I checked out some colleges with my friend last week. Many high school students visit some colleges where they want to enroll. We call such events "open campus day."

Special note:

The term "open campus" can refer to a junior high school or high school campus that allows children to freely leave the campus during lunch or to go home during school hours to get a textbook that was forgotten or something.

The term "open campus day" refers to a special day when colleges/universities allow non-students and their parents to visit the campus in order to learn more about the school before deciding where to enroll.

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2009-08-15

Foodmakers Focusing On Liquid Products For Elderly

Nikkei.com published an article on June 23, 2009, titled: Foodmakers Focusing on Liquid Products for Elderly.¹ This article was used in a class topic today. Here is a list of questions and suggested corrections for the class:

Original version:

- What type of flavor do you want, if you need to drink such liquid products?

Suggested version:

- What flavor would you like if you needed to drink such liquid products?

Notes:

A. The phrase "type of flavor" is redundant. The term "flavor" is enough.
B. The conditional question using "if" needs to include "would" instead of "do."
C. In a conditional question, I suggest using "would you prefer" or "would you like" instead of "would you want."

Original version:

-If you require nursing care, are you interest in more flavor options?

Suggested version:

- If you required nursing care, would you be interested in more flavors?

Notes:

A: The phrase "flavor options" seems redundant. Just "more flavors" is sufficient.
B. The second conditional question referring to a future event that uses "if" needs to have the verb "require" in the past subjunctive.

More details regarding the conditional sentence can be found at Wikipedia² and Section 5.114 Mood in chapter 5 of the Chicago Manual of Style.³

1. Nikkei.com: http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/e/ac/TNKS/Nni20090623DA3J6231.htm
2. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_sentence
3. The Chicago Manual of Style Online (subscription required): http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/ch05/ch05_sec114.html

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2009-06-01

Using "from" and "to"

Today's topic is about using "from" and "to" in your English.

One of our students wrote the following:

My friend picked me up from my house to Aoyama Cemetery in the morning.

When we use "from ～ to ～," we need two places and a verb that shows an action of motion, or we need to show a start time and an end time.

Examples of motion using our student's sentence:

1. My friend drove me from my house to Aoyama Cemetery.
2. My friend took me from my house to Aoyama Cemetery.
3. My friend and I left from my house and drove to Aoyama Cemetery.

Other examples of motion:

1. We drove from Yokohama to Osaka.
2. We took the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka.
3. I flew from Narita to LAX.

Examples of time:

1. I worked from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
2. I studied all day from Saturday morning to Saturday night.
3. I lived in New Delhi from 1998 to 2005.

Can you think of any other examples? Post a comment or ask me in class!

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