Part II in our never-ending battle with "the": proper nouns and articles

1) proper noun
Proper nouns (고유명사) are nouns that represent unique entities, such as names, places, and things. Generally, you need to capitalize the first letters, and should not put "the" before them.

• Seoul, Tokyo, Samsung, Hong Gil-dong .... (o)
• seoul, tokyo, the Samsung, hong gil-dong .... (x)

But common nouns (일반명사) also serve as proper nouns when paired with other words to create a name for an entity. For example, words like ministry, trade, and foreign affairs are all common nouns, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a proper noun. This kind of proper nouns are generally preceded by the.

• the Department of State, the Harvard School of Government, the White House ... (o)
  
• Department of State, Harvard school of government, the white house ... (x)
  

2) proper noun + description
You need to determine which article to use depending on whether the proper noun is preceded or followed by the description thereof. Take a look at the following examples:

• The American tire maker Goodyear did...
• Goodyear, an American tire maker, did...
• American tire maker Goodyear's action is.... (You are pairing "American tire maker" and "Goodyear" into one proper noun. So no "the". It is like you never say "the Tom's book." You should always say "Tom's book")

• The Korean car company KIA said...
• KIA, a Korean car company, said...
• Korean car company KIA's sales increased...
  

3) Acronyms
I have already tried to explain this in another post (April 3, 2010 "Frustrated with a/an/the? You are not alone!"), but a lot of people still seem to be very confused. Let me give it another try!

When common nouns are paired to form a proper noun, the end result is generally a very long proper noun. So people usually use acronyms. For example, instead of saying "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade," people say MOFAT. A lot of Korean students are not sure about which article (a,an, the) to put before acronyms.

• The FBI, the CIA, the UN ... : For acronyms of organization names that you pronounce each letter separately, use "the."
• WIPO, UNICEF, UNESCO, NATO ... : For acronyms of organization names that are pronounced as one word, do not put "the" before them.
• BP, LG, KFC, AT&T ... : Even if you pronounce each letter in these acronyms, they are so commonly used that they became non-acronymous proper nouns. That is, no one really cares what each letters stand for any more. In this case, do not use "the."
  

issue of direct translation III

When writing an essay in a foreign language, people tend to come up with ideas in their native language first and then translate it to the foreign language. Although this is natural and understandable, often times the end result is awkward expressions due to word-by-word direct translation. The following two examples are the most common cases of such that I have seen.

1) 정부는 ~에 더 관심을 기울여야 한다.
When asked to write a policy recommendation paper (정부 정책 제언), the most popular expression among Korean students seem to be either "the government should take/have more interest in something" or "the government should pay more/closer attention to something."

Although these are perfectly fine expressions, make sure you provide (either in the same sentence or in the following sentences) further explanations as to how/why the government can/should do so.

한국말로는 현안 A에 관하여 "정부가 관심을 가져야 한다"라고만 하면 충분히 제언이 되는 것 같지만, 영어로 그대로 번역해 놓으면 정부가 실제로 어떤 조처를 취하건 말건 간에 A에 대해 관심만 더 가지면 된다는 의미로 드릴 수 있습니다.

Take a look at the following example:

• The government should take more interest in the local context. (very vague)
• For more effective development assistance, the government should learn about the local context through research and community meetings (much more specific with "how" and "why")
  

2) Recently, ....
Interestingly, about 80% of the essays I have reviewed start with the word "recently." This is because expressions like "최근 우리 나라에서는.." "최근 한국 정부는..." are good and common ways of starting an essay in Korean.

However, as I explained in a previous post ("Unnecessary Words-Issue of Direct Translation I" April 20, 2010) with the case of "nowadays," the word "recently" implies that something is current and fresh, as opposed to being old or continuous. For example;

• Recently, the Illinois General Assembly Scholarship Program has fallen under intense scrutiny by the media and good government groups as a way for politicians to reward friends and donors by giving away full scholarships to a state college or university (Chicago Tribune, "Stop the Political Perks" June 10, 2010): Here, the author used "recently" to emphasize the fact that public attention to the scholarship program began only in the recent past.
  

Thus, for the sake of originality, try to start your essay with something other than "recently," unless you really want to point out that something happened in recent times.

word order-부사의 위치

Adverbs are not just words that end with "-ly." Anything that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb is an adverb. It does so by giving information about place, time, manner, cause, purpose, means , certainty, purpose etc. Therefore, words like here/there/fast are also adverbs, even if they don't end with "-ly."

There are so many different rules about where to put the adverb, and most of you do it just fine intuitively. But many students seem to be confused about word order when the verb is followed by more than one adverb. In this case, the correct order is "manner+place+frequency+time+purpose." For example, you should say "my friend studies hard in her room everyday after dinner to ace the final exam." If you break down the sentence, you can see what each element stands for.

• My friend: subject
• studies: verb
• hard: manner
• in her room: place
• everyday: frequency
• after dinner: time
• to ace the final exam: purpose
  

"criticize that"

Another word choice mistake I have seen from Korean students is the term "criticize that"; for example, "he criticized that she had been unfaithful." However, "criticize that" is not correct. The word "criticize" means to speak badly of someone's actions - the focus being on the fact that they did the bad action. While you can't "criticize that" someone did a certain thing, you can "criticize/blame them for doing it", "accuse them of doing it", or "assert that they did it". These all have different meanings:

• Pyeongyang's Naval command criticized that South Korea’s “reckless military provocation” was an attempt to maintain the Northern Limit Line(NLL). (x - does not make sense)
• Pyeongyang's Naval command asserted that South Korea’s “reckless military provocation” was an attempt to maintain the Northern Limit Line(NLL). (o - this means that North Korea is arguing that the provocation was an attempt to maintain the NLL)
• Pyeongyang's Naval command accused South Korea of “reckless military provocation”, in an attempt to maintain the Northern Limit Line(NLL). (o - this means that North Korea accused South Korea of taking provocative actions on purpose, in order to further the goal of maintaining the NLL)
• Pyeongyang's Naval command criticized South Korea’s “reckless military provocation” as an attempt to maintain the Northern Limit Line(NLL). (o - this means that the North sees the South's "provocation" as a bad thing, and interpreted it to be an attempt to maintain the NLL)

legitimate vs. legal

Legitimate means something is in accordance with established rules or standards, 정당한/타당한 in Korean. The established rules could be law, but not always. So being legitimate could imply lawfulness depending on the context, but that is not always the case.

• BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, has said the company will pay all "legitimate claims," well beyond the $75 million. But lawmakers have grown wary of the company's assurances as BP and other companies involved in the Gulf disaster have engaged in finger-pointing and resisted handing over video of the blown well. They are also worried about how BP will define "legitimate." (New York Times, May 25, 2010)

Here, legitimate means justified/genuine/reasonable, but not legal. Lawmakers are concerned because what a legitimate claim is in the Gulf oil spill case is not clearly defined by law, giving BP room for arbitrary liability.

• Make sure that he is the legitimate owner of the property you are about to purchase, as many cases of falsification of documents have been reported recently.
  

In this case, you could assume that legitimate also means legal/lawful, as real estate transactions are governed by law in most cases. When someone is a legitimate property owner, he or she must have acquired the property in a lawful way.

The following are some examples you might want to remember:

• illegitimate child: child outside of marriage
  
• illegal child (x)

• legal immigrants: immigrants who are in a country legally
• legitimate immigrants (x)

• legitimate copy: a copy that is authentic, not fake
• legal copy: a copy made in accordance with the law

• legal concerns: concerns that are related to the law
• legitimate concerns: justifiable and reasonable concerns
  

쉼표의 적절한 사용

By using commas properly, you can avoid making a run-on sentence (a sentence that has two or more complete sentences without appropriate conjunction or punctuation) and make your sentence a lot more clear.

1) name and title
When identifying something by name, after describing it more generally, use commas to separate out the name. Likewise, after stating someone's name, use commas to separate out their occupation.

• A government employee, Hong Gil-dong, said that....
• Professor Kim Chul-soo, the director of the Korean Center for Economic Development Research, said that...

But when you state a well-known person's official title that the person generally goes by, you don't need to separate out the title.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that... (o)
• Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said that... (x)

2) Parenthetical element
Use a comma before and after a parenthetical element to avoid confusion. Parenthetical element, or added/inserted clause, is a part of a sentence that can be removed without affecting the meaning of the original sentence.

• The leak was caused when the Deepwater Horizon rig, which had been drilling the well for BP, exploded April 20 and sank (Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2010): The sentence still makes sense without the italicized part, so you need a comma before and after it.
• Operation Rajprasong, which started on 14 May, has claimed the lives of at least 36 demonstrators (Guardian, May 17, 2010): Same thing here. The sentence still makes sense without the italicized part.
  

3) which, that, and comma
One of the most common mistakes I have seen: which vs. that

"A that B"는 명사의 의미를 좀더 분명하게 "제한"해 주기 위한 것이며 (A > B),
"A, which B"는 명사에 대한 "추가적인" 설명을 위한 것으로 (A=B) which앞에 쉼표를 써주어야 합니다.

• Jennifer likes purses that are expensive: 모든 핸드백이 다 비싼 것은 아니며 제니퍼는 핸드백 중에서도 비싼 핸드백만을 좋아하므로 that. (purses > expensive purses)
  
• Jennifer likes designer purses, which are expensive: 모든 명품 핸드백은 비싸며, 제니퍼는 그러한 명품 핸드백을 좋아한다는 의미이므로 쉼표 + which (designer purses = expensive purses)
• Designer purses, which are expensive, are what Jennifer likes: 이렇게 쓰면 which are expensive가 2번에서 설명한 parenthetical element가 됩니다.

4) such as
You need a comma if what follows "such as" is an example of what precedes it.
You don't need a comma if what follows "such as" narrows down what precedes it.

• I like movie stars, such as Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise: Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise are examples of movie stars. So you need a comma
• The house needs things such as furniture and bedding: Here, we don't know what category the "things" are. So "such as" narrows down what the "things" are, rather than giving examples of the "things."
  
• The house needs household goods, such as furniture and bedding: Now we know what category we are talking about (household goods), so you need a comma before "such as."

5) quotation and comma
Comma and period should come before the final quotation mark.

• “Starting today,” Justice Thomas wrote, “ours can count itself among the few in which judicial decree prevents voters from making that choice.”(New York Times, May 17, 2010)

6) series of items
When you list more than two items, use a comma to separate things. Make sure you use "and" only once before the last item. Some say that you don't need a comma before "and" but keep in mind that this is true only when your sentence is super clear. If there is any doubt that the last two items may be seen as one, use a comma.

• I like milk, egg, bread, and fruits for breakfast.
• I lost my key, got hit by a car, and broke up with my girlfriend. I hate my life.
  

확인하다: confirm vs. identify

To identify means to recognize something/someone as being a particular person or thing. When you identify AAA as BBB, it means AAA가 BBB임을 확인하다. Take a look at the following example:

• The victim of last night's car car crash was identified as a two-year-old girl from Korea: 지난 밤 자동차 사고의 피해자는 2세 한국 여아로 확인되었다.
  
• It has not been determined whether the recent sinking is related to North Korea: 북한이 최근 침몰에 연루되었는지는 확인되지 않았다. In this sentence, you should not use "identify" as you are not trying to figure out how exactly North Korea was involved. You don't even know whether North Korea was involved or not. You can say you identify North Korea "as an instigator," but you can't say you "identify North Korea."

To confirm means to establish the accuracy of something or acknowledge something with definite assurance, (무엇이 사실임을 공식적으로) 확인하다.

• [Commodore Lee Ki-Sik] did confirm reports in the South Korean news media that another South Korean ship had fired warning shots around the time the [Cheonan] was damaged after detecting an unidentified object on its radar (New York Times, March 26, 2010): 이기식 준장은 천안함 폭발 무렵 레이더에 미상의 물체가 포착되어 다른 초계함이 경고사격을 했다는 한국 언론의 보도가 사실임을 확인하였다.
  

In this sentence, the Commodore is confirming that the news reports are accurate, so you should say "confirm," not "identify."