2020-09-05
170820-1 คำชวนสับสน ในการใช้ ชุด C – Criterion & criteria
การใช้ภาษาอังกฤษ ที่ถือว่า ถูกต้อง ในที่นี้ เป็นไป ตามมาตรฐาน ของภาษา
ภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่กำหนดมาตฐาน ถือตามส่วนใหญ่ ที่ใช้แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจยืดหยุ่น ขึ้นอยู่กับ ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง “criterion” = “krahy-TEER-ee-uh n”
ออกเสียง “criteria” = “krahy-TEER-ee-uh”
Dictionary.com
USAGE NOTE FOR CRITERION
Like some other nouns borrowed from the Greek,
criterion has both a Greek plural, criteria, and a plural formed on the English pattern, criterions.
However, the -s plural is rarely used;
the plural ending in -a is the usual form:
These are the criteria for the selection of candidates.
Though criteria is properly a plural noun,
it is increasingly used as a singular noun, most often in speech but also occasionally in edited prose:
One criteria is that the candidate must be over 18.
This use of criteria as a singular noun is generally considered incorrect.
Dictionary.com
ให้ข้อสังเกตุ การใช้ “criterion” ที่เป็น คำนาม ยืมจากภาษา Greek
มีรูป พหูพจน์ เช่นเดียวกับ กรีกคือ “criteria”
เปลี่ยนรูปเป็น พหูพจน์บ่อยครั้งกว่า ด้วยการใช้ “a” แทน “s” ต่อท้าย เช่น
‘These are the criteria for selection of candidates.’
ถึงแม้บางครั้ง ในการพูด ใช้ “criteria” เป็น เอกพจน์ แต่น้อยครั้งในการเขียน
ในภาษาอังกฤษมาตรฐาน ใช้ “criteria” เป็น พหูพจน์ เสมอ
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for criterion
STANDARD, CRITERION, GAUGE, YARDSTICK, TOUCHSTONE
mean a means of determining what a thing should be.
STANDARD applies to any definite rule, principle, or measure established by authority. standards of behavior
CRITERION may apply to anything used as a test of quality whether formulated as a rule or principle or not. questioned the critic's criteria for excellence
GAUGE applies to a means of testing a particular dimension (such as thickness, depth, diameter) or figuratively a particular quality or aspect. polls as a gauge of voter dissatisfaction
YARDSTICK is an informal substitute for CRITERION that suggests quantity more often than quality. housing construction as a yardstick of economic growth
TOUCHSTONE suggests a simple test of the authenticity or value of something intangible. fine service is one touchstone of a first-class restaurant
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Is criteria singular or plural?:
Usage Guide
The plural criteria has been used as a singular for over half a century.
let me now return to the third criteria
— R. M. Nixon that really is the criteria
— Bert Lance Many of our examples,
like the two foregoing, are taken from speech.
But singular criteria is not uncommon in edited prose,
and its use both in speech and writing seems to be increasing.
Only time will tell whether it will reach the unquestioned acceptability of agenda.
Did You Know?
One person's principal criterion for a new car may be its gas mileage,
while someone else's may be whether it has room for four children.
When filling a job opening, employers usually look for several criteria (notice the plural form) in the applicants;
and when college admissions officers are reading student applications,
they likewise always keep a few basic criteria in mind.
And when interviewing an applicant, one criterion for both the employer and the admissions officer might include the size of the applicant's vocabulary!
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
Can ‘Criteria’ Ever Be Singular?
What to Know
Criteria is typically a plural noun referring to standards on which a judgment can be made.
Its singular is criterion,
but evidence shows that criteria is frequently being used as a singular as well as a plural,
much like data and agenda and their lesser-used singulars datum and agendum.
As English borrows words from Latin and Greek,
we sometimes must adjust our grammar to accommodate
how those words were used in their original languages.
This is particularly true with regard to plural nouns.
Early English grammarians preferred to preserve the traditions of the classical languages, so Latin- and Greek-derived nouns often retained their Latin and Greek plural forms in English.
This practice was retained particularly for academic and scientific writing. So the plural of radius is radii; appendix is appendices;
genus is genera; bacterium becomes bacteria.
But in many other instances, the Latin or Greek plural was abandoned for the standard English plural.
The Latin plural of gymnasium is gymnasia, but you would almost never see it pluralized as anything other than gymnasiums in English.
There are numerous counterexamples.
One is criterion, a word whose Greek plural is very much alive: criteria.
Usage of 'Criterion' and 'Criteria'
Criterion is defined as “a standard on which a judgment or decision may be based” or “a characterizing mark or trait.”
The former of these is the meaning in question when one says,
“An important criterion for choosing where to dine is that there are vegetarian entrees on the menu.”
Possibly because so many decisions are based on more than one factor,
the plural criteria tends to show up more frequently in English than its singular form.
In these instances, criteria typically follows the construction of a standard plural.
On infrequent occasions, the Latin plural is eschewed for the standard English –s plural:
'Criteria' as a Singular Noun
There is evidence that criteria is following the pattern of other Latin
- and Greek-derived nouns that have shown a preference for the plural form in constructions that otherwise would seem to call for the singular (such as a singular article or being a subject paired with a singular verb such as is):
Our word data, for example, began its life in English as the plural of the Latin-derived noun datum.
A datum was a single piece of information, and data worked as a word for all of those pieces taken collectively.
The massed nature of data gave it a life of its own as a singular noun.
Now when we encounter data in English, it occurs more commonly in the singular (“the polling data was released this morning”).
The singular datum and the plural use of data still occur, but are rarer than singular data.
Another exampleto which criteria is often compared is agenda,
which came to English as a plural for the noun agendum.
Agenda referred to the list of things needing to be done, and a single item on that was an agendum.
Unlike data and agenda, however,
criteria still shows use as a count noun (“here are three criteria”) alongside the emerging singular.
Only time will tell if criteria will continue to show preference as the singular form over criterion.
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions
ให้ความหมาย “criterion” และ “criteria” คือ
“standard/rule หรือ test” ที่นำมาใช้เพื่อตัดสินใจ หรือเลือก
ว่าไม่อาจใช้ “criteria” แทน “criterion” ได้ในประโยค เช่น
“a criteria” หรือ “one criteria”
ไม่นิยมให้ใช้ “criterions” เป็นรูปพหูพจน์ แต่ยอมรับได้ในประโยค เช่น
‘One criterion for success is hard work’
American Heritage Dictionary
ให้ข้อสังเกตการใช้ “criterion” ว่าเช่นเดียวกับ “phenomenon”
ต่างมาจาก “Greek” และเป็น เอกพจน์
ในการใช้มาตรฐาน พหูพจน์ คือ “criteria” ถึงแม้ บางครั้งอาจใช้ “criterion” ได้บ้าง
ในการพูดอย่างถูกต้อง จะไม่ใช้ “criteria” เป็น นาม เอกพจน์
และวลี เช่น “this criteria” และ “single criteria”ถือว่า เป็นการใช้ที่ไม่ถูกต้อง
ในทำนองเดียวกัน การใช้ “criterions” เป็นพหูพจน์ ก็ไม่ถูกต้อง เช่นกัน
มีใช้ได้แต่ แต่เพียงในการแก้ไข บทกวี เพื่อการพิมพ์
‘The criteria in judging the papers will be neatness, thoroughness and length.’