I’ve come across the phrases “master’s prepared” and “bachelor’s prepared.” Four of us had a discussion at work and said the apostrophe is wrong. It doesn’t denote a contraction. But maybe it does denote a possessive. If so, what is it the possessive of?
They are possessives. A master’s degree is a degree which belongs to a master. If you have a master’s degree, you are a master. Ergo, master’s degree.
A degree of a master. That I can understand. But what is the explanation of master’s prepared? Is it shorthand for “master’s degree prepared?”
That I couldn’t tell you. I have never heard that phrase.
That’s how I read it. I mean, I hear people say “I’m going for my master’s” all the time, and in that case the implied “degree” is pretty clear.
“Master’s” is the title of the degree type, and ‘prepared’ is an adjective. No more strange than “Master’s in Mathematics”, say.
Yes.
For whatever reason, that’s a term that registered nurses seem to use. My wife is a nurse, and she uses that term all the time.
Of course, she (and other nurses) also pronounce “centimeter” as “SAHN-tuh-mee-ter.” I don’t know where nurses come up with this stuff.
But what if you have a bachelor’s degree and you get married, huh?
But it’s unusual in English for the adjective to follow the noun. In this case, part of the noun phrase (“master’s degree”) has been omitted, adding to the confusion.
Sounds kinda like “cable ready” or “gender specific”.
(or should those be hyphenated…maybe I’m totally wrong on this)
I glanced over at my diploma and it says “Master of Information Technology.” The degree grants you the title of Master. “Master’s” and “master’s degree” are, I think, colloquial. On a résumé, for example, you wouldn’t properly say “Master’s in Mathematics” but rather what your diploma would say, probably “Master of Mathematics.”
It’s French pronunciation, though I have no idea what doctors in the US would use that.
That’s what my wife said, too. She was told in nursing school that the word was French and should be pronounced that way. My response was that it’s now an English word, and should be pronounced accordingly. After all, “restaurant” also comes from the French, but we don’t pronounce it the way the French do.
For the most part, the doctors don’t pronounce it the French way, just the nurses. (Any doctors that do picked it up from the nurses.) I think it’s some sort of meme that wormed its way into the nursing schools–one influential nursing instructor pronounced it that way, and it spread through the community.
Unusual, but not unknown. ‘Court martial’, for instance.
Good point, mine says ‘Master of Music’. Mind you, on CV/resume or anywhere else I’d just put ‘MusM - Music’, anyway.
My diplomas say “Bachelor of Arts” and “Master of Science.” But I say I have a masters (with no apostrophe). Robby, I’m proofing the Magnet re-application for the nurses at the hospital and indeed, this is where I’m seeing “master’s prepared.” And most of the nurses here say “sahn-ta-meter” or however it’s spelled. I figured they were being pretentious.
The degrees are a bachelor’s and a master’s, respectively. If you write that you have a masters, you’re not writing according to the textbook rules of grammar.
More likely, something like “X University Confers upon Y the Degree of Master of Science.” Most diplomas I’ve seen don’t state your major.
Oh crap, of course. :smack:
(This is a general comment. I’m just quoting you for ease)
If one is a “Master of Science,” the degree is consequently a “Master’s degree.” The person is a master, and the degree belongs to them: hence, “master’s.”
Thanks for this information. One of our nursing instructors says it SAHN-tuh-mee-ter and none of us could figure out why. I must say, it sounds affected as hell when she says it. I’d roll my eyes but I sit on the front row.