scope

Wow, I’m still in shock that we haven’t done this already. It should be in the Top Three Most Wanted of our Translators’ FBI. But we here at TFBI always get our man, and when scope foolishly stuck its head out on Sunday, well...

Mr. Scope takes me back to my early days as a rookie ’reader. Back then I knew less than I know now, which is sort of like saying you know more about being smacked in the face after you’ve been punched a few times. The idea is firmly there, but the loose brain cells prevent you from fully cementing the idea before the next blow comes. Or something.

Anyway, scope is a bad case of over-use. Despite Polish employing a great deal more specific words to describe slight variations of one thing or concept (as opposed to English which will happily recycle one word to mean five different things), some Polish words suddenly leap out at you with a gun, screaming and ranting about being versatile and having a half-cousin in London or Dublin. It is my suspicion that scope is one such lunatic. Let’s crack the case files on this one:

Prior convictions
1a) The Buyer agrees to supply items within the scope of the agreement. 
2a)  …solely and only in the scope necessary for work performance.
3a) The new drug is recommended for treatment in the scope of motor system disorders.

What the judge said
1b) The Buyer agrees to supply items within the terms of the agreement.
2b)  …solely and only to the extent necessary for work performance.
3b) The new drug is recommended for treatment of motor system disorders.

Throw the book at it!

1) (mass noun) the extent of the area or subject matter that something deals with or to which it is relevant.
2) (n) extent of mental ability, outlook, etc¹
3) (n) range or opportunity (e.g. That’s beyond the scope of our research)¹           
4) (n)  device looked at or through (telescope).
5) instrument for observing or showing (oscilloscope). 

     

The Verdict
As will be evident by now, Evidence 1a, b and c is not incorrect usage. Technically. This, ladies and germs, is a technicality. Because although Mr. Scope appears to be innocent – he is in fact being grossly over used!! Yes, that’s right, with TWO exclaims!

Scope seems to be one of those rare versatile words in Polish, and so when the bullets start flying he gets sprayed across every paragraph in sight. Now in natural English, it’s just not used to the same extent – at all. Good synonyms exist that are also valid in the legal and business contexts which are scope’s usual MO. The fix, then, is to use a synonym – usually range or extent (extent of/extent to which etc) – or, when not in business or other hyper-formal speak, just cut it all down to of (example 3 above).  

        

Now you’re aware of this recidivistic recalcitrant, I want you to get out there and get him! Dismissed.

The Week in Review - June the 12th, 2011

Hey-ho folks, how's it going? Having fun yet, or hurrying to finish some outstanding work? I've always like the ambiguity of that word - is the work late, or really, really brilliant? Hmm...

Speaking of brilliant, it's been a pretty fruitful week in terms of discussion-worthy things cropping up at work; in fact something just came up now, which reminded me that we had a meeting today! Let's look back at the action so far:

On Monday, a passing academic article had this to say: "The environment meets an important role in the development of obesity."

Two things are going wrong here. Firstly, meeting an important role is a non-functional mash-up of (possibly) two different phrases: 1) playing a role (or part), i.e. 'X plays an important role in Y'; and 2) meeting the needs of, i.e. 'The new bus service meets the needs of the community very well.' The second thing is the definite article at the start of the sentence - it changes environment as a *concept* into environment as a particular place, either previously specified or about to be in the next sentence.

 Reader Adam Ł. then chimed in with an interesting question about articles, definite and otherwise, which appeared in a book he'd read. ;) You can read all about it here, and feel free to add your own opinion on the matter too. :)

Tuesday brought this particular gem to my attention: "Since the 1st of July until the end of the year....". Long-time readers will remember our spectacular, action-packed 'Time Travel Week', where we covered the since/from issue nicely (though feel free to check out the rest of it too!).

The next exciting thing that happened was that I received a proposal. Sadly, not an indecent one,* but fun never the less:

1a. We proposed visitors to buy a t-shirt...
1b. We proposed that visitors buy a t-shirt...
1c. We propose to sell t-shirts to visitors...

Looking at the verb propose, example (1a) above is bad usage. (1b) and (1c) are correct alternatives. The reason for its subtle wickedness is in the verb-noun arrangement, "proposed visitors". We can not go directly from any form of propose straight to such a clause. This is a very, very common mistake by all speakers of English as a second language, not just translators etc.

Remember then, to always put a demonstrative (e.g. that) or some other buffering device, such as a handy preposition (e.g. to) between propose, proposing etc and whatever comes next!


Wednesday we had the long-awaited (by me anyway) Round Two of the Bad Quiz! There's still time to put the kettle on and settle down for a bit of head-scratching before next Wednesday, when we go over the answers and appoint our next winner.

 Thursday brought the full scope of amateur horror to my doorstep when this gibbering monstrosity swam up from the abyssal depths to assault my senses: "...one of the largest cellular networks in Poland, offering a full scope of telecommunications services."

Now, apart from the hugely naughty a which makes scope into a noun (such as one might attach to a rifle), scope is one of the sickest patients in the Over-Used wing of the Translating Issues Asylum. It's a small, simple thing, which nearly everyone uses, nearly all the time! 

So horrifying an issue is it, that I have immediately decided we need to do a whole slot on it. Until then, think about using a synonym instead - range and extent are always appropriately dressed and more than happy to help:  "...one of the largest cellular networks in Poland, offering a full range of telecommunications services."

Friday was a little less dramatic, providing small chuckles in the way of a small error on the part of mediafire.com, the super-handy file sharing site. I posted the following screen-grab and asked you to spot the mistake - no one has yet, so feel free to let rip here too!

 Well, that's enough of my tedious, ill-considered rambling. As I said, we've got the answers to this week's quiz coming up on Wednesday, the threat of a special article on the use of scope, and - don't say I'm not good to you - another guest article by the brilliant, talented, and brilliantly talented Dotty!

Do środa!  

Jim :) 

*awful film, great score.