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Listenever Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
specialist or specialists
The trailer for the new movie Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation starts off with this:
The IMF is uniquely trained and highly motivated, specialist without equal, immune to any countermeasures. But it is an agency of chaos.
I hear "specialist" not "specialists", although more transcripts out there say the latter than the former.
Which do you think is the correct transcription?
If indeed it's the singular "specialist", is it referring to the IMF, the agency, itself? I mean, is it possible to refer to an agency or an organization as a singular specialist? FYI, IMF stands for "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Missions_Force".
Also, regarding the punctuation, I put the word "specialist" after a comma. Assuming that it refers to the IMF as a single thing, is this the right kind of punctuation?
Or should it be separated as an independent sentence like this?
The IMF is uniquely trained and highly motivated. Specialist without equal, immune to any countermeasures. But it is an agency of chaos.
In which case, it might be assumed that "It's a specialist" was reduced to "Specialist".
The IMF is uniquely trained and highly motivated, specialist without equal, immune to any countermeasures. But it is an agency of chaos.
I hear "specialist" not "specialists", although more transcripts out there say the latter than the former.
Which do you think is the correct transcription?
If indeed it's the singular "specialist", is it referring to the IMF, the agency, itself? I mean, is it possible to refer to an agency or an organization as a singular specialist? FYI, IMF stands for "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Missions_Force".
Also, regarding the punctuation, I put the word "specialist" after a comma. Assuming that it refers to the IMF as a single thing, is this the right kind of punctuation?
Or should it be separated as an independent sentence like this?
The IMF is uniquely trained and highly motivated. Specialist without equal, immune to any countermeasures. But it is an agency of chaos.
In which case, it might be assumed that "It's a specialist" was reduced to "Specialist".
Top answer
I hear "specialist". I understand it as an adjective not a noun.
- I hear "specialist".
- I understand it as an adjective not a noun.
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5 Answers
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Thanks.
I thought about that too.
But some dictionaries say that only before a noun can you use the adjective "specialist".
(See http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/specialist_1?q=specialist and
I thought about that too.
But some dictionaries say that only before a noun can you use the adjective "specialist".
(See http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/specialist_1?q=specialist and
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listeneverAnd is the "specialist" in the OP being used before noun?No, it would have to be predicative. This is not so usual, but I don't see a better explanation.
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GPYI don't see a better explanation.So do you think it's not possible to think of "specialist" as a noun that starts a separate sentence where "It's a" is left out?
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listeneverSo do you think it's not possible to think of "specialist" as a noun that starts a separate sentence where "It's a" is left out?I think that is a less likely explanation. Even if a new sentence were started at "Specialist", I would still read it as an adjective.
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