Wednesday December 28, 2005
Thanks to our efforts
 |
It now describes itself correctly as “Department Store”. Enclosed is a cutting from its latest flyer.
I hope you will reproduce this cutting. to encourage other users of incorrect English to make the necessary changes in their signboards and advertisements. – D.P. Pereira, Johor Baru
When penjodoh bilangan is needed
I couldn't agree more with Sharon (Dec 23) that penjodoh bilangan (in this case “piece of”) is totally ‘wasteful’ when used with countable nouns. English is very concerned with economy of use and penjodoh bilangan makes some expressions unnecessarily long.
Last week, a colleague of mine asked me to buy her “five pieces of Christmas cards”, but I think it would be more economical and thus more accurate if I just bought her “five Christmas cards”.
However, due to my forgetfulness – and thanks to the shopkeeper for not reminding me – I went out of the shop without taking the envelopes for the cards. As a result, my frustrated colleague needed “five papers” to make the envelopes. But, hey, shouldn’t it be “five pieces of paper”?
Yes, when it comes to uncountable nouns (in this case referring to “paper”), we do need some kind of penjodoh bilangan whether it is “(five) pieces of” or “(five) sheets of.”
And yes, Sharon, you don’t have to cut a piece of paper into five should someone ask you for five pieces of paper because they do need five pieces. – Mahid bin Masseluang, Labuan
RSS
