The merry pedant
From Francis Bennion
Sir: If I may correct Mr Craig Brown in a somewhat pedantic way, I would point out that it is not necessary, in order to avoid the clumsy construction 'The Pedants' Association', to resort to the scarcely less clumsy 'The Association of Pedants' (`The temple of whom', 13/20 December). The answer is simply to write 'The Pedants Association'. Here. 'Pedants' is used as a nominal adjective, or adjective derived from a noun. This is a respectable grammatical device, recognised by Fowler in The King's English. True, he does not call it a nominal adjective, which is a term I have just invented. However, the word 'nominal' is derived from the Latin nomen, a name, which is also the origin of 'noun'. One meaning of 'nominal' given by the QED is 'of the nature of, pertaining to, a noun or nouns'.
This construction avoids the suggestion, which may not be entirely accurate, that the Association is the mere possession of a body of pedants. It will be found of use in a wide variety of cases.
Francis Bennion
Budleigh Salterton, Devon
Previous page
