Blacklist

This is a column of words or phrases commonly misused by Chinese speakers. If you’re planning to be an English teacher, reporter or employee of a multinational company, then watch out for this page each week.

1. When viewed it from the hillside, Baihua Mountain is shrouded in clouds.

Professor Zhu Shida (ZS): When one of my students wrote this sentence and I deleted “it,” she was puzzled and could not understand why I would do that. She thought that sentence was perfectly correct. The problem with this sentence is the inconsistency of the subject of the main clause with that of the subordinate clause. Obviously, the writer wishes to say: When it is viewed from the hillside, Baihua Mountain is shrouded in clouds. As the subject and the predicate of the subordinate clause can be omitted, it becomes: When viewed from the hillside, Baihua Mountain is shrouded in clouds. Or you may say: When you view it from the hillside, Baihua Mountain is shrouded in clouds.

Terry Boyd-Zhang (TBZ): Another way, especially in very formal academic papers, is to change the “you” to “one”: When one views it from the hillside, the mountain is shrouded in clouds. This can become a bit awkward, so simply removing the “it” is the best solution.

2. With a tour of a series of five cities in China, her second last stop is Beijing.

ZS: The rendering of “second last” is, as a matter of fact, all right. However, the more standard way of expressing this idea is “the last but one” or “the penultimate,” which both mean “next to last.” We have: the penultimate chapter of a book, the penultimate stop; the second page but one. So, this sentence can just as well be written this way: With a tour of a series of five cities in China, her last stop but one is Beijing, or, her penultimate stop is Beijing. I have an example on hand to show the usage of the word penultimate: The runner swung into a terrific bare-footed spurt in the penultimate lap and romped to a record-breaking victory in the men’s 10,000-meter race.

TBZ: I personally kind of like “second last” stop. Though, in the example, I might add “her second last planned stop” is Beijing, because the sentence is in the present tense and a lot can happen in the three cities prior to Beijing. In fact, I would make Beijing the last stop on the tour, but that’s changing everything completely, isn’t it?

3. Sneaker

ZS: Nowadays we are fairly used to the word “sneaker” as meaning a light canvas shoe with a soft rubber sole used for games and sports and don’t think of it as meaning “a person who sneaks.” However, here’s an interesting corporate story from Keds, a sneaker company: “The term was coined in 1917 by Henry Nelson McKinney, an agent for the advertising firm N.W. Ayer & Son, referring to their soft, noiseless rubber soles, which allow the wearer to ‘sneak’ up on unsuspecting friends or family.” The term, however, is found as early as 1887 when The Boston Journal of Education reported, “It is only the harassed schoolmaster who can fully appreciate the pertinency of the name boys give to tennis shoes – sneakers.” So, the word was coined much earlier and very vividly brings into relief its character of softness and lightness as a sports shoe.

TBZ: This is really interesting! So, “sneakers” is generally an American term. In Canada, we normally say “running shoes” or perhaps call them by the brand, such as Converse.