The French language is evolving at breakneck speed. Each week, our language advisor dissects the words and expressions that make the headlines or give us trouble.
Posted yesterday at 6:00 p.m.
How many continents are there? Five six seven ? Maybe even eight?
It depends on the point of view. The classic answer is five, or the five inhabited continents of Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Oceania.
Five, all the same, is perhaps insufficient. Moreover, the dictionary Robert lists six: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Oceania and Antarctica (South Pole). Note in passing the spelling of the name Antarctic which, like that of the name Arctic, is often abused; we must not forget the vs. We must also not forget the circumflex accent of the name pole (even if the adjective polar, he does not take it). AT The Presswe write the North Pole, the south poleas we write the northern hemisphere, the southern hemispherecapitalizing the cardinal points.
If you are a high-level mountaineer trying to complete the Seven Summits Challenge, you are still missing a continent, since it is a question of climbing the highest mountain of each of the seven continents. North America and South America are considered here as two continents.
Even if it is a proper noun, the Americas can be written in the plural, like the two Germanys (before reunification) or the two Koreas.
The term seventh continent can also designate another reality, the continent of plastic (which some see rather as the eighth), or, according to the definition of the Full Petit Robert, the “plate formed by floating debris that accumulates in ocean gyres”. Word gyre refers to gigantic oceanic whirlpools. According to Robertit is used in the feminine or in the masculine. subtropical gyre Where subtropical.
You may have noticed that for some years now there has also been talk of an eighth continent. It was baptized Zelandia (Zealandia) or mainland New Zealand, because it is near this country. According to geologists, this is a full-fledged continent, located almost entirely under water.
Learn or teach?
Is it fair to say that a teacher “teaches” his students? Shouldn’t we rather say that he teaches?
Response
The verb to learn means both to receive a teaching and to give a teaching.
It is used in the sense of “to acquire through study, practice, experience, knowledge, know-how, something useful”. To learn how to read, to write and count. Learn to drive.
But also in the sense of “teaching something to someone”, of “giving knowledge, knowledge of something”. She was trying to teach them drawing. The teacher teaches the students irregular verbs. His father taught him to skate.