<B>The British Council?s language clinicwith ?Dr Danny?</B>

Hello and welcome back to the English Language Clinic. Over the past few weeks, I have received a number of requests to explain the differences between pairs of words. Let?s start with ?disinterested? and ?uniterested?. If Wassim is ?uniterested? in stamp collecting, he has no enthusiasm for it at all; he is not interested in the slightest. If, however, Wassim is ?disinterested? in stamp collecting, he has nothing to gain or lose from it. A good example of this difference is a judge. A judge must be ?disinterested? in a case, but never ?uninterested?. Next, and sorry if you are eating, is an interesting and commonly confused pair. Imagine a sandwich made with dog hair, sand and rotten egg. If the thought of such a snack makes you feel sick then the sandwich is ?nauseous? and you are ?nauseated?. If you describe yourself as being ?nauseous? you are expressing the fact that you make yourself or others feel sick.

When is it correct to use ?criterion? and when to use ?criteria?? ?Criterion? is the singular and ?criteria? is the plural; therefore, one ?criterion? but two ?criteria?. Now, If I am given a piece of home work by a student and I correct the errors, I have ?emended? the text. If, however, I completely re-write the piece of work, I will have ?amended? it (which would not really help the student). Finally, I hope that this week?s article has been ?comprehensible? (you can understand it), although, I know that it has not been ?comprehensive? (explaining everything and missing nothing out).

Please send your comments, queries and questions to ?Dr Danny? by emailing the following address [email protected]

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