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 #2 (permalink) Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:37 pm Oracle employees? Is that correct |
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"Oracle employees" is a compound noun that means "employees of Oracle". There is no true genitive case in English, but "Oracle" could be made possessive, and you could say "Oracle's employees" in a few situations. However, the most common and normal-sounding way to describe people who work for Oracle is "Oracle employees". Type the name of any big company and the word "employees" into Google as an exact phrase, and you'll see how normal it is. You can use "Ford employees", "Microsoft employees", etc. You'll find this construction in the best business newspapers.
What language do you and your boss speak? |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #3 (permalink) Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:44 pm Oracle employees? is that correct |
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Thank you, Jamie,
I've also tried the Google method, but since not everything on the Internet is correct, I just wanted to make sure. Is that true only for nouns reffering to famous names? I'm not sure, but I believe that "dog food" means the same as "food for dogs". Me and my boss are both Romanian, but he has been abroad several times and had the chance to discuss with native English speakers, so he believes to be right...  |
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 Eliz_k
New Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 5
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| #4 (permalink) Thu Apr 24, 2008 13:03 pm Oracle employees? is that correct |
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| eliz_k wrote: |
| I've also tried the Google method, but since not everything on the Internet is correct, I just wanted to make sure. |
Look for that kind of construction on well-edited web pages, such as those of major news services, like AP, Reuters, the BBC, New York Times, etc.
| eliz_k wrote: |
| Is that true only for nouns refering to famous names? I'm not sure, but I believe that "dog food" means the same as "food for dogs". |
We never say "food for dogs"; 99.9999999% of the time we say "dog food", "cat food", bird seed", etc.
| eliz_k wrote: |
| Me and my boss are both Romanian, but he has been abroad several times and had the chance to discuss with native English speakers, so he believes to be right... |
No, he appears to have a certain confusion that people have if their native language has a genitive case and doesn't make much use of word compounding. Ask him if he prefers "English teacher" or "teacher of English". If he prefers "teacher of English", he has a problem in this regard.
When I taught in Eastern Europe, some of my night students who should have known better would suddenly start saying "teacher of English" or "teacher of Russian": "My teacher of Russian told us that bla bla bla..." We native speakers would tell them that they should say "English teacher" and "Russian teacher". However, their high school English teachers had told them not to do this, because they claimed that "English teacher" and "Russian teacher" are not clear.
However, they are clear. It's all about stress:
An ENGLISH teacher teaches English, but we don't know where he's from.
An English TEACHER is from England, but we don't know what subject he teaches.
We almost never say "teacher of English", and if we do, it almost always sounds strange.
Where are you in Romania? I spent some time there in the bad old days of Mr. Ceausescu, when there was nothing to eat but tomatoes, onions, bread and something that people said was cheese. And there was Pepsi in Constanta. It was a beautiful, interesting country, and I understand that now you have more to eat.  |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #5 (permalink) Thu Apr 24, 2008 13:18 pm Oracle employee? is that correct |
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Thank you again, Jamie,
I will send my boss an e-mail with the link to your explanations. The truth is that I always loved English, but grammar was never my strong point, since I could learn it easier from movies, music and books, without paying much attention to these aspects. However, ever since I work I have to translate a lot to and from English because we are a software company and our "first language" in business is, of course, English.
I am from Bucharest. Things are now much more different in Romania from what others have told me. I was very young when Ceausescu was executed, so I remember little about the period before. Anyway, now we are getting better and better every year. A person with mid-studies and university graduates can make quite a decent living, if not to prospere if they go into business. I'm confident that things will finally be ok in Romania, although the economical gap between us and other countries still exists.
Best regards,
Andreea |
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Eliz_k
New Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 5
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| "What is the matter with you?" - Is it right? | Usage of way, means, approach, method |
