| Usuário | Autor do fio: patyjs Adjectives ending -ic or -ical |
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patyjs
México
Local time: 21:45
 Associado desde 2007
espanhol para inglês
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Hi everyone,
can anyone explain the difference in use of these two endings?
For example:
syntactic - syntactical
astronomic - astronomical
geographic - geographical
Thanks
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Raúl Casanova 
Uruguai
Local time: 01:45
Associado desde 2007
inglês para espanhol
| | Not all are correct | Nov 6 |
Syntactic technical
SLG relating to syntax:
syntactic structure
—syntactically /-kli/ adverb
Astronomical 1 informal astronomical prices, costs etc are extremely high
2HA [only before noun] relating to the scientific study of the stars
—astronomically /-kli/ adverb:
astronomically high rents
also ge‧o‧graph‧ic
1 relating to the place in an area, country etc where something or someone is
geographical area/location/position
a large geographical area
their geographical proximity to Japan (=nearness to Japan)
2 relating to geography:
geographical research work
—geographically /-kli/ adverb
Source: Longman Diccionary of Contemporary English
Sorry, text got messed up
[Edited at 2009-11-06 15:59 GMT]
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Albert Golub
França
Local time: 04:45
Associado desde 2004
inglês para francês
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Oliver Walter
Reino Unido
Local time: 03:45
Associado desde 2005
alemão para inglês
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| | "being" and "relating to" | Nov 6 |
The survey quoted by Albert is interesting and rather a lot to read (44 pages). As he says, look at p. 11 in particular. In my experience, the difference is often (but certainly not always) as stated in the 3rd entry of the table on p. 11: XXic is likely to consist of, or be closely connected to XX; XXical is slightly more distant (conceptually)and related to XX while not actually being XX.
I had exactly this question a couple of weeks ago concerning electric and electrical and I came to this conclusion then, while also noticing that the distinction is not quite consistent: I noted "electric charge" (though one can also speak of electrical charge), "electric power", "electric wiring", "electric motor", "electric circuits" in contrast to "electrical engineering", "electrical calculations", "electrical equipment", "electrical safety".
English is, unfortunately (perhaps fortunately, for native translators!), not a logically consistent language. I think this is partly because of its multiple origins in Teutonic, Latin, Greek and other languages and partly because its native users make mistakes which are eventually copied and repeated by others so often that they become accepted as "correct".
Oliver
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Selcuk Akyuz
Turquia
Local time: 05:45
 Associado desde 2006
inglês para turco
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MODERADOR | | Any difference in British vs American usage | Nov 6 |
Generally speaking, I think that American English prefers adjectives ending with -ic. Native speakers please correct me if my assumption is wrong.
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Sheila Wilson
França
Local time: 04:45
Associado desde 2007
francês para inglês
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That really is a godsend! I teach English for business purposes and some of my higher level students have doubted my competence when I've failed to come up with a straightforward rule. In future, I can just wave this in front of them as justification.
@ Oliver Walter:
"English is, unfortunately (perhaps fortunately, for native translators!), not a logically consistent language."
That's an understatement if ever I heard one! And not so handy for teachers, I can tell you!
[Edited at 2009-11-06 21:04 GMT]
[Edited at 2009-11-06 21:06 GMT]
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