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Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Trainings, nothing more than trainings...


Feelings. 
Screenings. 
Dealings. 
Readings. 
Helpings. 
Teachings.
Earnings.
Findings.
Writings.
Proceedings.
Offerings.


Trainings.

Wait, what? 

Your reaction to "trainings" may have been, "But that's not a countable noun; you can't make it a plural".

This subject came up recently in an online discussion among editors, and there was a lot of hostility toward "trainings". The usual sorts of comments about shuddering and teeth grinding and laments about how common it is, and should be replaced by "training sessions".

Someone felt that "teaching" was also not used in the plural, and expressed gratitude for this oasis of "sanity". This despite the fact that we have evidence of "teachings" from 500 years ago:
1542–3   Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII c. 1   Suche bookes, writinges..teachinges and instructions, as be pestiferous, and noysome.
and no-one would bat an eye at a phrase like "the teachings of Buddha".

By the way, I hate it when people use "sanity" to describe their particular usage, with the implication that any new development in language (by someone else) is "insanity".

But the most intriguing comment implied that this irksome use of gerunds as countable nouns is something new. See the (partial) list above of very common plural gerunds.

Now, it's true that "trainings" is not as well-established as some of the gerunds I've listed above, but it has become quite common in certain fields since the 1980s, and there is no reason to object to it.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if 50 years from now some editors were to comment, "Training sessions? That's so redundant! Why say that when you can just say trainings?"

What's more, this is one of these "way older than you think" usages.
1598 I. D. tr. L. Le Roy Aristotles Politiques viii. iii. 384 It appeareth, that..it is needfull to learne certaine things, and to be instructed and trained in the same, and that these instructions and trainings be vndertaken for their sakes which learn.


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5 comments:

  1. Interesting and fun too. What do you make of the relatively new use of the word 'impact'? It has all but replaced 'affected' and 'influenced' in popular usage.

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  2. Oh, Katherine Barber, she of common sense, I appreciate your blog. Having decided that I will not accept being called a "Grammar Nazi," I embrace you as a fellow "Language Evangelist."

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  3. Where else would we glean learnings, if not from teachings and trainings?

    I did used to cringe at "learnings", but if training as an editor taught me anything, it's that there are few rules and many style choices. And your patient example has taught me that usage is often different, but not much of it is dead wrong.

    Also, nice callback to Morris Albert's mid-70's megahit! Whoa whoa whoa, feelings...

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  4. Surely editors should know that all words ending in -ing are not gerunds! Many (including all your examples) are verbal substantives, with different history and usage from gerunds. You could point them to the OED entries on -ing(1) and -ing(2)

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  5. Depends on if you follow where the language was invented or if you want to follow a derivative (Australian versions of English or American versions of English). Personally, I think it should always be Training. You have many Training Courses or Sessions each of those is the plural option. I prefer to try and largely stick to English and not follow American English dictates.

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