{"id":573,"date":"2020-10-01T09:33:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T07:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=573"},"modified":"2020-10-01T09:33:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T07:33:04","slug":"death-from-or-death-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=573","title":{"rendered":"Death from or death with?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fortnight ago, I read Marc Trabsky and Courtney Hempton\u2019s article entitled \u201cDied from or died with COVID-19? We need a transparent approach to counting coronavirus deaths\u201d (The Conversation).  As an English language teacher for adults, I am used to answering questions on the sameness and differences in the meanings of words and phrases (e.g., work for\/work with, look forward to\/looking forward to, mandatory\/compulsory, lease\/rent, complete and finish, so forth). So, when I see articles on coronavirus, I think of the possible confusion due to the use of  \u2018from\u2019 and \u2018with\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trabsky and\nHempton explained, \u201cClarifying what\u2019s being counted as a COVID-19 death is\nnecessary for understanding the impact of the virus, and for informing public\nhealth and clinical responses to the pandemic.\u201d In short, death from COVID-19. They\nfurther stated: \u201cIf we know who is susceptible to dying with COVID-19\nbecause of pre-existing conditions, public health responses could more\neffectively target and protect potentially vulnerable people and communities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the\ndictionary definitions of \u2018from\u2019 is to indicate an agent cause or source; for\nexample, I have received a motivating note from our supervisor. Whereas,\n\u2018with\u2019 denotes accompaniment, addition, combination, or presence; for example,\nI will accept the contract with two conditions. Hence, in the case of\nCOVID-19 pandemic, who is\/are responsible for the lumping of statistics that makes\nit confusing or difficult for the public to understand its real impact? Is it the\nreporters, medical practitioners, governments, or organisations or individuals\nwith vested interests?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19,\nas with other pandemics, has highlighted the importance of numbers. Without\nstatistical information, governments and relevant bodies (particularly the\nWorld Health Organisation) would not have been able to grasp this new and\nmysterious virus that continues to spread. However, these figures should be collected,\nanalysed and presented to the public accurately and simply. Pundits\u2019 data (useful\nor otherwise) are often quoted, requoted and forwarded quickly and widely, notably\nthrough the social media, with positive or negative consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nsubject reminds me of a former student who took an extended sick leave and did\nnot finish her C1 English language course. According to her colleagues, it was\ndue to stress from work.  I\nbelieved it readily but, now, I wonder if it was \u201cstress with work\u201d. How\nabout \u2018stress at work\u2019? The first scenario gave me a scene of a horrible\nworkplace that overpowered a happy personal and social life. The second one\ninvolved an unpleasant workplace due to uncooperative and rude manager or\ncolleague, in addition to relationship difficulty at home.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stress at\nwork can be beneficial as it keeps us alert and productive, as long as it does\nnot trigger life-threatening events, such as severe health and emotional\nproblems. The only way to deal with stress is to identify its cause and then\nreduce or eliminate this. I hope you are not stressed with<\/strong> the distinctive use of prepositions in the English language:\nby, for, from, in, with, on, at, etc. (I played chess at the weekend\/UK;\nI played chess on the weekend\/US = I spent time playing chess on\nSaturday or Sunday, and not over\/during the weekend). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prepositions\nare generally short words but essential. Their misused can make a difference between\na clearly stated opinion and a confusing statement. However, when used\nproperly, they allow us to share our ideas, emails and reports more precisely\nand understandably.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fortnight ago, I read Marc Trabsky and Courtney Hempton\u2019s article entitled \u201cDied from or died with COVID-19? We need a transparent approach to counting coronavirus deaths\u201d (The Conversation).  As an English language teacher for adults, I am used to answering questions on the sameness and differences in the meanings of words and phrases (e.g., … Continue reading Death from or death with?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-political-cultural-economic-issues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":575,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions\/575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}