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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Vocabulary

Is "starting member" possible English?

In the following link, a native speaker says they don't say "starting member" as in "Is he a starting member?".

http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/163529-Correcting-broken-English

But there are many news articles that apparently use this particular expression as follows. What gives???

(1) Following the untimely passing of her sister, Landra, Joseph adopted and raised her nephew, Rakeem Christmas. Christmas recently earned his bachelor’s degree in communications, in three years, from Syracuse University where he is a starting member of the men’s basketball team.

Link: http://www.phillytrib.com/metros/article_c82d8e46-6515-5313-a884-1d0ea89d27e2.html

(2) For the first time since 2006, Garoppolo is a starting member of a football team, a junior linebacker for Western Illinois. 

Link: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-09-14/sports/ct-spt-0915-prep-college-catchup-20100914_1_leathernecks-college-football-jimmy-garoppolo
  

Top answer

, who don't sit on the bench at the beginning.

— Mister Micawber

  • , who don't sit on the bench at the beginning.
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9 Answers
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A starting member of a team is a different meaning: it means one of the members who start each game, i.e., who don't sit on the bench at the beginning.
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Mister MicawberA starting member of a team is a different meaning: it means one of the members who start each game, i.e., who don't sit on the bench at the beginning.
Are you saying that the meaning of 'starting member' in "Is JI-sung Park a starting member?" is any different from that of 'starting member' in the above news articles?

If so, what makes
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AnonymousAre you saying that the meaning of 'starting member' in "Is JI-sung Park a starting member?" is any different from that of 'starting member' in the above news articles?
No; they seem to be the same.
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Mister MicawberNo; they seem to be the same.
The very reason I posted the question was that in the first link (usingenglish.com) a native speaker named Rover said that native speakers don't use "starting member" as in "Is Ji-sung Park a starting member?".

If the meaning of "starting member" is the same in both in that first link and in the news articl
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Anonymousdo you disagree with Rover's answer?
As a speaker of British English, I agree that we do not speak of starting members. If you doubt Rover's answer, why did you not ask him about it in the original thread rather than come to another forum to discuss it?
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fivejedjonAs a speaker of British English, I agree that we do not speak of starting members. If you doubt Rover's answer, why did you not ask him about it in the original thread rather than come to another forum to discuss it?
So might it be an AmE/BrE thing?
I'd appreciate it if a native speaker of AmE could tell me if 'starting member' is ever used in A
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AnonymousI'd appreciate it if a native speaker of AmE could tell me if 'starting member' is ever used in AmE.
In AmE, 'starting member' or 'starter' is used as in the newspaper articles; it does not refer to someone who has just joined a club (which is how I first thought you were suggesting its use).
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Mister MicawberIn AmE, 'starting member' or 'starter' is used as in the newspaper articles; it does not refer to someone who has just joined a club (which is how I first thought you were suggesting its use).
OH, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I really appreciate your help.
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I also need some version of starting member. Contect is being a member within an group, i.e. member from it's inserection, but not the founder. Otherwise would be founding member.

In my case I'm a company, member in an group of companies. Some joined later. We've been there from day 1. But the founder is a government agency, so I cannot call us founding member.

Any suggestion how

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