tough grammar question | Golden Skate

tough grammar question

PolymerBob

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Here is a tough grammar question I've been struggling with. Of the following 2 sentences, which one of them is correct? :confused:

1) Soccer is what the Europeans call "football".

2) "Football" is what the Europeans call soccer.
 

sillylionlove

Medalist
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Wow...not only do I suck at math but now apparently I suck at English too!! LOL I think both are correct...however, after careful examination...I don't that that starting a sentence with words in quotes is correct. I also think that in sentence number one football doesn't need to be in quotes. Personally I would change the sentence to read...In America is called Soccer and in Europe it's called football....then all your problems would be solved.
 

PolymerBob

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Thanks for the help, Silly. I'm still not totally sure. I think the problem is that the verb "call" actually has two different meanings. In the first sentence, it means "refer to as". In the second, it means "use as a term for". The difference is subtile, but it is there.
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
It's also passive voice and it's better to use the active voice.

Europeans refer to soccer as football.
 
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