Wednesday December 21, 2005
Misused words
Two words that are often misused are “staff” and “personnel”.
It is not unusual to see or hear something like the following:
“I was attended to by a staff who did not tell me his name.”
“The personnel's signature was undecipherable”.
The word “staff” stands collectively for the persons working in an office or for an organisation. It cannot be used for a single individual, who may be called “a member of the staff” or “a staff member”.
The word “staff” may be singular, as in: “The staff of the organisation is to be transferred to an office on the second floor.”
OR plural, as in:
“The staff were paid their bonuses last year.”
“Personnel” is a word used collectively for the persons employed by an organisation or engaged in an undertaking. The word is always plural.
“The personnel of that organisation are extremely well trained.” – D.P.P., Johor Bahru
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