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Posts: 263

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Q: A couple of questions for the native speakers:

 Does an English teacher mean a teacher who teaches English or a teacher from England  or the both? If the latter is true, how to distinguish between them?

What exactly does Mr. Zhang's picture mean -  the picture that belongs to Mr. Zhang  or the picture on which you can see Mr. Zhang? What about the picture of Mr. Zhang?

Thanks in advance.

11 years 8 weeks ago in  Teaching & Learning - China

 
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Hey there. It's funny, you've kind of hit on the nuances of the language. 

In the first case: It can mean EITHER.... but usually means the latter. There is no way to distinguish. You just have to know the context of the conversation. 

 

In the second.

Again. It could mean EITHER! It all depends on the contexts of the conversation. 

MissA:

It could mean either, written, but spoken, you'd immediately know the difference.

11 years 8 weeks ago
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11 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Hey there. It's funny, you've kind of hit on the nuances of the language. 

In the first case: It can mean EITHER.... but usually means the latter. There is no way to distinguish. You just have to know the context of the conversation. 

 

In the second.

Again. It could mean EITHER! It all depends on the contexts of the conversation. 

MissA:

It could mean either, written, but spoken, you'd immediately know the difference.

11 years 8 weeks ago
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You may use different sentence structures to convey different meanings. 'A picture of Mr. Zhang' might better show the meaning than 'Mr. Zhang's picture.' 

You can easily say 'a British teacher' to show that the teacher is from England. 

Don't limit yourself to one form. 

I think context helps determine the meaning with this type of sentence.

ElenaDob:

A British teacher is not necessarily an English teacher, i.e. a British teacher may be from Wales or Scotland too. an English one is definitely from England.

11 years 8 weeks ago
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bill8899:

You are 100% correct. 

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Both can be used for either meaning, the difference would come from the context or the stress pattern.

 

e.g. (bold = stress)

He's an English teacher. = He is a teacher from England.

He's an English teacher. = He is a teacher who teaches English.

 

Mr Zhang's picture. = The picture of Mr Zhang

Mr Zhang's picture. = The picture belonging to Mr Zhang.

 

Now both are easily confused even by native speakers and so they are often used incorrectly, to avoid confusion it would be quite normal to clarify the meaning by changing the statement.

 

e.g. That picture belongs to Mr Zhang, or That is a picture of Mr Zhang

He teaches English, he is from England.

 

Most native speakers would do so without conscious thought, although in the 'English teacher' example if it is obvious that the person is not English e.g. speaking with a Russian accent or wearing a kilt etc, then as confusion is unlikely the original 'he's an English teacher' would be quite ok to use.

 

 

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11 years 8 weeks ago
 
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An English teacher means a person who teaches English. (A teacher of English). .

 

"Mr. Zhang's picture" refers to a picture of Mr. Zhang.

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Hugh's right on the money, here. The meaning would be determined by the sentence stress.

 

Here's the best way I've found to explain sentence stress. Look at the differences in meaning between the following sentences:

 

I love my mum. (I love her, you don't)

 

I love my mum. (emphasis on main verb - strengthening main point of the sentence).

 

I love my mum. (I don't love your mum)

 

I love my mum. (but not my dad)

 

 

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 Thank you, guys. I've heard about logical stress but it didn't occur to me to use it here.

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Ambiguous. In regular conversation, you would usually pick up which was meant from context. Generally speaking it's more common for an English teacher to be a teacher whose subject is English, and for Mr. Zhang's picture to be a picture of Mr. Zhang. If the context does not make it obvious, I would either ask for clarification or specify beforehand. 

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