News & Insights

A common mistake among Dutch users of English is to use start with rather than start. There is a difference in English between to start something and to start with something:

   To start something = To begin an activity

The orchestra will start the concert at 7.30pm.
We’ll start our pub crawl at The King’s Head.

   To start with something = To do the first in a series of activities

We’ll start with you, John, and then move on to Peter.
Let’s start with a couple of beers, and then have a bite to eat.

©2014 Baxter Publishing, Hilversum, The Netherlands

Arab (pronounced ARR-ub) is the adjective used in relation to the race, culture and politics of the people known as the Arabs:

        Arab countries, Arab culture, the Arab League, etc.

Arabic (pronounced ARR-a-bik) is the name of the language spoken in Arab countries. The language of the Koran is Classical Arabic; modern varieties are referred to as Egyptian Arabic, Syrian Arabic, etc. As an adjective, Arabic generally means ‘written in, or some way related to the Arabic language’, as in:

an Arabic inscription, Arabic numerals, Arabic script, Arabic poetry, etc.

Arabian (pronounced a-RAY-bee-un) generally refers to the geographical region known as Arabia, as in:

the Arabian peninsula, the Arabian deserts, Saudi-Arabian politics, Arabian oil wells, Arabian horse

It is also found in the title of the famous collection of stories, also known as A Thousand and One Nights:

The Arabian Nights

Note that Arab, Arabic and Arabian are all written with a capital letter.

To sum up: Arab relates to people, Arabic refers to language and Arabian is used in connection with land.

©2014 Baxter Publishing, Hilversum, The Netherlands

There’s something not quite right with the sign mensware, recently seen in a department store with bilingual signs. No, it’s not that there should be an apostrophe in mens-, although you would need one if the two elements were written as two separate words. The part that is wrong is -ware. The correct form is menswear: clothing that men wear.

The element -wear always refers to clothing of some sort. It can be preceded by the person for whom the clothing is made (as in menswear, and as a separate word in children’s wear, women’s wear), the type of clothing (e.g., knitwear, leatherwear) or the part of the body it is worn on (footwear, headwear, legwear).

The element -ware is familiar from software and hardware. It means objects made of a particular material or for use in a particular context. In this meaning it is found in tableware, glassware, kitchenware, earthenware, silverware, and ironware, and before the age of computers, when you talked about hardware you meant goods made of metal (e.g., buckets, hammers, nails, etc.).

So when trying to decide on the correct spelling, consider whether you’re dealing with clothing (-wear) or some other objects (-ware).

©2014 Baxter Publishing, Hilversum, The Netherlands

Which is correct?

The cost of the campaign is too high.
The costs of the campaign are too high.

It depends on what is meant. If the speaker essentially means ‘We can’t afford it: it’s too expensive’, then cost is correct: the emphasis is on the total amount needed.

If the speaker means ‘We must be careful how we spend our campaign money’, then costs is correct: the emphasis is on the individual items of expenditure, and the implication is that they need to be looked at and reduced.

Dutch speakers should bear in mind that Dutch often uses kosten where English uses cost. So whenever you find yourself using costs, ask yourself whether the focus of the meaning is on a single sum covering everything or on the various individual items. Then you’ll know whether costs is correct, or whether you should be using cost instead.

When you use cost, use the structure the cost of ____. When you use costs, use the structure ____ costs. For example,

the cost of living                                       living costs
the cost of the campaign                        campaign costs
the cost of travel                                      travel costs

Although doing things the other way round won’t result in ungrammatical sentences, the above structures are the ones most often found in English.

©2014 Baxter Publishing, Hilversum, The Netherlands

Flight attendants beware! Fasten is often mispronounced, because the spelling is deceptive. The t is not pronounced. In fact, all t‘s preceded by an s and followed by -en or -le at the end of the word or unit are silent:

-en
fasten (FAH-sun)
listen (LISS-un)
glisten (GLISS-un)
Christen (KRISS-un)

-le
bustle (BUSS-ul)
castle (KAH-sul)
hustle (HUSS-ul)
mistletoe (MISS-ul-toh)
nestle (NESS-ul)
rustle (RUSS-ul)
thistle (THISS-ul)
whistle (WISS-ul)
wrestle (RESS-us)

Words derived from any of the above behave in the same way, i.e., the t is also silent in whistling, bustling, hustler, rustler, etc.

The t is also silent in Christmas (KRISS-mus), in soften (SOFF-un) and (sometimes) in often (OFF-un).

©2013 Baxter Publishing, Hilversum, The Netherlands

Look around at Schiphol at this time of year, and you’ll see all sorts of “X-mas special offers” being advertised. Nothing wrong with using the abbreviated form of Christmas, you may say. The only trouble is that Xmas (pronounced EX-mus) is written in English without a hyphen (Dutch verbindingsstreepje). Those who feel it should be written with a hyphen are perhaps getting confused with X-ray.

However, most style books recommend that you avoid the short form altogether, except in advertising or when space is short: Christmas (pronounced KRISS-mus) is much preferred.

Using the right preposition (voorzetsel) with the right word is difficult at the best of times, but it is particularly difficult in the case of agree, with which you can use to, with, about, on or no preposition at all – depending on what you want to say. The sentences below show the possibilities:

When you agree to a proposal, you accept it and say that you will carry it out, or let someone else carry it out.

When you agree with a person or an idea, you are of the same opinion or have the same idea.

When you (as a group) agree about something, you are of the same opinion.

When you agree on a plan, you decide jointly with others to do something.

When you agree a deal or price, you reach joint agreement about it.

©2013 Baxter Publishing, Hilversum, The Netherlands