civilisation - civilisational

Just a quick one today as my angina is kicking me in the dup with big, hob-nailed boots. I’ve got three or four different tabletki to try and beat this thing, but as we all know, the best medicine is a nice, relaxing translation. ;) This item at least has the virtue of being plucked fresh from the pages of a brand-new text I’m working on right now. It’s also something I’ve been seeing quite often for quite some time – the misuse and abuse of the word civilisation, including use of an invented adjectival form! Look ye here, oh civilised reader:

1a) The civilisation development brought a huge progress in science and technology.

1b) The development of civilisation brought huge progress in science and technology.

2a) Street-level Civilisational improvements include plumbing, indoor toilets, electricity, libraries and public health services.

2b) Street-level signs of civilisation include plumbing, indoor toilets, electricity, libraries and public health.

OED Def.

civilization (also civilisation) mass noun – the stage of human development social development and organisation which is considered most advanced.

Okay, I threw the whole definition in there for fun, but really all we need from the Oxford scholars is the bit that tells us it’s a mass noun. What would also be useful – in fact, most useful – but that is too much to reproduce here, is the rest of the page (316 in my edition), upon which there is no sign of any other form of the word. Hence, no adjectival civilisational (2a). I suspect it’s one of those words that sounds right, even though it isn’t or doesn’t exist. It sounds like organisational, which is okay, so we mentally shrug and say ‘bingo!’

Niestety, the fix for this pox on society is rephrasing, always the most tedious route for anyone. But all we really need to do is move civilisation in the sentence so it doesn’t have to do the adjective dance. Simplest route to take here is (1b), or if you’re feeling plucky, throw in a synonym and do the (2b) tango.

You’ll notice in (1a) there was a... bad article! I couldn’t resist taking it out for the ‘corrected’ version though. :D (of course, you all know why it was bad, right? Comment below and tell us!)

possibility

When suggesting possibility, perhaps in the form of options for an event or festival, describing options for tourists or hotel guests in advertising literature, or when listing or detailing possible courses of action in a business proposition etc, the actual noun possibility is a common element. In our translations into English though, we sometimes see things like:

1) There is also a possibility of having cake with your coffee.
2) Thanks to a possibility of receiving the funds in stages, we can proceed earlier than expected.
3) With the 20m² stage setup, there is also a possibility of additional lighting rigs at no extra cost.

So, what’s the problem here? It’s the choice of article – in these cases a. Compare these two sentences, and look what happens when we use the instead:

4a) We have a possibility of using the Chopin Room for our next seminar.

4b) We have the possibility of using the Chopin Room for our next seminar.

OED definition:
(n, singular) 1- a thing that may happen or be the case.
(mass noun) 1- the state or fact of being possible; likelihood. 2- thing that may exist or happen.

What happens is that out choice of article changes the implied degree of certainty of that possible option or choice. The article changes the implication. Thus, (4a) implies that maybe, we might be able to use the Chopin Room; while (4b) implies that yes, we can use that room, if we want to.

Do you see the difference there? With the indefinite article we’re saying ‘there might be possibilities’. With the definite article, we’re saying ‘there are possibilities.’ So in the contexts we described in the first paragraph, you’ll want to be using the definite article.