Judging by or judging from? Conflict over or conflict for? These are just some of the tricky questions that came up in one of our recent group translation sessions.
Students from our advanced translation course translated a fascinating DipTrans past paper (paper 1, general) about the environmental disaster in the Aral Sea. This quiz focusses on some of the style and grammatical challenges that got us thinking.
(a) judging by + noun or judging from + noun?
(b) conflict over + noun or conflict for + noun?
(c) Do the words biblical and godly usually take capital letters or not?
(d) How do newspapers normally reflect shortened forms of square measurements, such as square miles?
Scroll down for the answers.
Answers
(a) judging by + noun or judging from + noun?
This is a trick question in that both are correct but there are some important points to consider about their usage. See this quote from The Times style guide regarding judging by: “One of the most frequently misused unrelated participle constructions. Remember, the phrase must have a related subject to follow (I, we, she etc). A convenient alternative is ‘to judge from …’ (eg, ‘Judging by this film, the country is in a mess’ is wrong; ‘To judge from this film, the country is in a mess’ is correct; so is ‘Judging by this film, we can conclude that the country is in a mess’).” This quote was taken from a discussion on the matter on WordReference forums, available here.
(b) conflict over + noun or conflict for + noun?
You would have a conflict over an issue or problem. See Collins for an example: “in that year conflict with the government over pay settlements led to an unprecedented civil service strike.” However, if the conflict is to achieve a purpose, then for is a possibility: they entered into conflict for survival i.e. for the purpose of survival.
(c) Do the words biblical and godly usually take capital letters or not?
No.
(d) How do newspapers normally reflect shortened forms of square measurements, such as square miles?
Under The Economist Style Guide, it’s sq. mi. Under The Guardian, it’s sq mi. There are arguments for either choice. Be consistent!
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