Seeing double

**SURGEON LT.’S WARNING** Due to the potentially boring and soporific content of this blog post (i.e. grammar), please do not read while operating heavy machinery. Come to think of it, you probably shouldn’t read anything while operating heavy machinery, except for, say, instructions for said machinery.

One of the projects that Dave and I are working on this year is a massive vocabulary list to use as a foundation for our two-year English curriculum. We hope to use this list to teach our students some of the most frequent and useful English words. That’s when we found [drumroll, please] . . . the Oxford 3000. Yes, the Oxford 3000! The keywords of the Oxford 3000 have been carefully selected by a group of language experts and experienced teachers to fulfill all of your vocabulary needs! . . . Well, maybe not, but it’s a pretty good list, and while 3000 words might seem like overload, have no fear, the list begins with a and includes words like Thursday, November, and teacher. So we’re hoping to pare it down quite a bit by finding out what words most of the students already know.

The past few days, we’ve been talking a lot about words. And once again I’m reminded of how difficult this crazy language is. Take the word light, for example. Did you know that it has no fewer than 15 different definitions? Or how about words like subject and record. They can be nouns; they can be verbs. We don’t change the spelling if we use them as verbs or nouns, but we do pronounce them differently (by emphasizing the first or second syllable). Or how about those countable and uncountable nouns? (We can have three apples, but not three rices.) Those really trip up the Chinese, who have neither plural forms of nouns nor articles. And what about nouns that can be both countable and uncountable? (The three gossips spread gossip all over town.)

But I think nothing is more troublesome than the word double. The basic meaning is simple, but the nuances in usage are a nightmare. You name a part of speech, it’s there. (The Oxford 3000 lists it as adj., det., adv., n., v.) According to the American Heritage ESL Dictionary, it has 18 different definitions of its own, not to mention the trail of other entries listed after it (double-breasted, double-check, double-cross, double-digit, double standard, etc.). And I can’t just ignore it—it’s everywhere. Can you double that? I need that on the double! Would you like double cheese? Give him a double dose. It doubles as a paperweight. Still haven't quite figured out how to approach it, though.

Desiree

**Photo: A Chinese wedding cake with a traditional wedding wish on top: "Double Happiness!"