Archives: December 2019
Prof. Kev Nair's Tips on English Usage
COMPREHENSIVE FLUENT-ENGLISH USAGE™
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“superior to” OR “superior than”?: What’s the correct usage?
Copyright © Kev Nair 2019. All rights reserved.
If you want to say that somebody is better (more able/ skilled, etc.) than somebody else, or that they’re higher in rank, position or status than somebody else, the word “superior” can help you express your meaning.
The word “superior” can also help you say that something is better than something else in quality/ performance/ value, etc.
But be warned: The preposition you should use after the word “superior” is always “to”. Yes, “to”. Always. Don’t use “than” or “from” or any preposition other than “to”.
Here are some examples:
She thinks she’s superior to / than/ from her employees.
Doctor, why do you feel (yourself) superior to / than/ from the patients here?
Of course, he appeared/ looked/ seemed superior to / than/ from them.
Don’t you know that a colonel is superior to / than/ from a major in rank?
He acted superior to / than/ from us all.
He wanted to prove himself intellectually superior to / than/ from the other students.
How can you claim to have become socially superior to / than/ from them?
As a form of daily exercise, is walking superior to / than/ from running?
Perhaps, it’s the performance indicators that make these machines infinitely superior to / than/ from all others.
This make of watch is seen as/ regarded as greatly superior to / than/ from most other makes.
Why is this brand considered vastly superior to / than/ from all other brands?
Their army was vastly/ infinitely superior to / than/ from the armies of the aggressors.
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Copyright © Kev Nair 2019. All rights reserved.
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“inferior to” OR “inferior than”?: What’s the correct usage?
Copyright © Kev Nair 2019. All rights reserved.
Suppose you want to say that somebody is not good or not as good as somebody else in ability. Or suppose you want to say that they’re lower in rank, position, status or importance than somebody else.
Then the word that helps you express your meaning is “inferior”.
You see, the word “inferior” can also help you say that something is poor in quality or is of poorer quality than something else, or that it’s not good or not as good as something else in quality/ performance/ value, etc.
But mind you, there’s something you should be careful about here: The preposition you should use after the word “inferior” is always “to”. Yes, “to”. Always. Don’t use “than” or “from” or any preposition other than “to” (after “inferior” ).
Here are some examples:
You’re not inferior to / than/ from any of them at all.
Don’t act inferior to / than/ from them. They’re not better or more important than you in any way.
Their soldiers are said to be very inferior to / than/ from ours.
They used to consider female employees as somewhat inferior to / than/ from their male colleagues.
Most of the other staff were intellectually inferior to / than/ from him.
Isn’t a captain in the army inferior to / than/ from a major in rank?
His talks are inferior to / than/ from his articles and books.
Our performance was decidedly inferior to / than/ from that of theirs.
His analytical skills were significantly inferior to / than/ from those of the other candidates.
Why is this brand considered vastly inferior to / than/ from all other brands?
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Copyright © Kev Nair 2019. All rights reserved.
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“travel” OR “travels”?: What’s the correct usage?
Copyright © Kev Nair 2019. All rights reserved.
We sometimes have to talk about the journeys, trips, tours and voyages that somebody makes to different places far away from where they live – especially, to places in foreign countries. That too, for pleasure.
What we do then is to talk about “his/her/their, etc. travels” (plural, with an ‘s’), and not about a “travel” (singular).
Here are some examples:
Her travels /travel in Japan seem to have been very exciting.
They spoke to us for a long time about their travels /travel in America.
He’s going to publish a book about his travels /travel around China.
Nobody knows where his travels /travel are going to take him this time.
He doesn’t talk much about his travels /travel abroad.
He bought those curios during his travels /travel around Egypt.
The idea for the story came from one of my travels /travel.
Is he off on his travels /travel again?
Tell us about some of your travels /travel.
Did you have any experiences like that on your travels /travel in Africa?
He’ll be back from his travels /travel next week.
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Copyright © Kev Nair 2019. All rights reserved.