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Joined: Sep 2000
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so, how would you re-phrase the original statement?

ORIGINAL STATEMENT: "Mount Marty opened as a junior college (in the midst of the Great Depression) in 1936, and its first four-year bachelor degrees were awarded on May 29, 1951."

SUGGESTED ALTERNATIVE: "Mount Marty opened as a junior college (in the midst of the Great Depression) in 1936, and began to grant the four-year Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951."




#114965 11/04/03 03:47 AM
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We don't know from the original statement that only BA degrees were awarded. BS degrees might have been awarded as well.


#114966 11/04/03 10:29 AM
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thanks, FS. and JohnH, I'll check into that.



formerly known as etaoin...
#114967 11/04/03 12:39 PM
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Here is an example of a descriptivist triumph, and for all practical and otherwise purposes, a feminist one - Undergraduate rather than Bachelor.


#114968 11/04/03 01:20 PM
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Heh, maahey. I like it. But would we possessivise it?


#114969 11/04/03 01:24 PM
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Undergraduate rather than Bachelor.

It has a certain aura of the oxymoron to it. Once one gets the degree one is no longer an undergraduate, is one?


#114970 11/04/03 09:21 PM
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Bachelor-level degrees are sometimes referred to as "undergraduate degrees". The expectation is that the graduate will go on to do postgraduate degrees.

Since the qualification is bachelor of [pick your subject], then there is no possessive involved - the "bachelor" is merely an adjective describing "degree". Therefore it is "bachelor degree", although I have to agree with FS about its problems. The use of "undergraduate degree" probably evolved, at least in part, because of this awkwardness.




#114971 11/05/03 05:29 AM
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"...I have to agree with FS..."

ANCIENT CHINESE PROVERB: He who agrees with pedantic priest is in good company.




#114972 11/05/03 11:43 AM
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So, is it master degree? And how do you refer to the level in general? Bachelor of Arts or Science?


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Some are born pedantic; others achieve pedantry; still others have pedantry thrust upon them.


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