Mr MC Venkatesh has sent an interesting note about mobile language here. ‘Give me a missed call on my number. Then I can store your number.’
Venkatesh comments: ‘There is no call that is actually missed here. The call is left deliberately unanswered. The mobile reports it as a ‘missed call’. Is this IE usage or what?
In the US the phrase has a different meaning. My correspondent writes: Here it simply means that the person received a call but did not answer it for whatever reason. He may say later: “I m sorry. I did not call you back. I missed your call.” I have not heard anyone say: “give me a missed call.’
2. Does upfront only mean ‘open, frank, honest? In the IT industry I’ve come across people — including those from English-speaking countries like the US —use it only to mean something like ‘beforehand or well in time’; e.g. ‘Inform the client upfront to avoid last minute surprises regarding the dates. ‘I find this usage very common among the Americans. In fact the term ‘upfront license fee’ has become almost a standard phrase when it comes to software licensing. Here’s one from http://www.redhat.in/rhel/renew/fagus: ‘when you buy proprietary software, you pay an upfront license fee and then pay for maintenance every year,’ Here obviously (upfront) doesn’t mean honest/open’- Mr Venkatesh.
Mr Venkatesh continues: ‘Will the new meaning of ‘upfront’ stay on? Or will it like certain Americanisms not make it to the mainstream?
Upfront can be used either as an adverb or an adjective. Used as an adverb it has, broadly, the meanings of (a) payment made in advance (b) ‘at the front’. The sentence by Venkatesh has the first meaning which is most often encountered in American English. But the second meaning is also there and may be found, especially in the context of sports. He can play up front or in defence (The New Oxford Dictionary of English; note how it is written as two words in this sense).
As an adjective upfront has the meanings of ‘bold, honest, frank.’ He has been upfront about his intentions (NODOE). The American Heritage College Dictionary does not list the physical meaning (sports).
Shantha, K writes: ‘Sir, This is my 4th approach to get the clarification regarding the degrees of comparison. As I came across various interpretations for the comparative degree, I feel it is my concern to give the apt answer to my students.’
Ashoka was one of the greatest rulers in Indian history. (superlative degree)
Ashoka was greater than most other rulers in Indian history. (comparative degree)
Very few rulers in Indian history were as great as Ahoka (positive degree)
The short answer is that all these sentences are correct. Why, then, does the teacher feel diffident about declaring these sentences as being grammatical?
Because of the way the degrees of comparison are presented in school grammars. Usually comparison is made between two persons, objects, groups. Ram is taller than Ravi. The Krishna is a bigger river than the Cauvery. A palace is bigger than a mansion. But comparison need not involve all the elements in a group. In a class of sixty Ram may be taller than fifty students. You can then say: Ram is taller than most students in the class (Shantha’s second sentence). If Ram is taller than, say, 50 or 55 students, you can say: Very few students in the class are as tall as Ram (positive; we have already seen how this fact can be expressed in the superlative). Now supposing in each class there is a very tall boy and Ram is one of them. Assume further that he is nearly as tall (or actually as tall) as any of them (i.e. the tall boys). Then you can say: Ram is one of the tallest boys in the school.
So comparison can involve all the members of a group; or it can involve most of the members of a group. In the latter case you get sentences like the ones considered above. In the former case we get sentences like Ram is the tallest boy in the class /school; Ram is taller than any other boy in the class/school; No other boy is as tall as Ram (in the class/school).
Contact the writer at
ksyadurajan@deccanherald.co.in
