Hello! This week on
"Ask a
Teacher" we answer a question from Samuel in China. He writes:
QUESTION: When I read the news,
sometimes I see 'under quarantine', and at other times I see
'in
quarantine'. Are they different in meaning? Prepositions are
tricky for Chinese English learners. I hope you can help
clear my mind a little bit. Thank you in advance, Samuel, China.
the
news: los diarios, las noticias; at other times: en otras
oportunidades; different in meaning: de significado diferente; tricky:
tramposas, complicadas; clear my mind: despejar mis dudas; a little
bit: un poco; in advance: por adelantado;
ANSWER: Dear Samuel, Thank you for writing to
us. I am sure that almost everyone who is reading or hearing this knows that
“quarantine” is the isolation of a person or a group of people to prevent the
spread of infection to others. But it may not yet be clear how we use different
prepositions with the word “quarantine”.
to us:
a nosotros; almost everyone who: casi todos los que; hearing:
escuchando; knows that: saben que; isolation: aislamiento; to
prevent the spread: para evitar la propagación; it may not yet be clear:
puede que todavía no quede claro;
UNDER / IN
QUARANTINE
Let us begin with “under”. Since May 2020, language
researchers have collected what people are saying related to the pandemic in 20
different English-speaking countries. They call the result the "Coronavirus
Corpus". I searched in that collection and learned that “under quarantine”
is much less common than “in quarantine”. Here are some examples:
let us begin with:
comencemos con; since: desde; language researchers: los
investigadores de idiomas; have collected: han recolectado;
Coronavirus Corpus: el vocabulario específico del Coronavirus; I searched:
yo busqué; much less common that: mucho menos común que;
All close contacts of the coronavirus cases have been PLACED UNDER a
quarantine order.
Todos los contactos
cercanos de los casos de coronavirus han sido PUESTOS BAJO una orden de
cuarentena..
Following his classmate’s positive test, the 11-year-old
was PLACED UNDER quarantine on Thursday.
Luego de la prueba positiva
de su compañero de clase, el niño de 11 años fue PUESTO EN cuarentena el jueves.
Many countries put their entire populations under strict quarantine in
order to prevent the virus from spreading.
Muchos países PONEN a toda
su población EN estricta cuarentena para evitar la propagación del virus.
Compare these examples of
how “in quarantine” appears:
compare these:
compara estos; appears: aparece (en el texto);
Some schools are offering meals to students IN QUARANTINE.
Algunas escuelas están
ofreciendo comidas a los estudiantes EN CUARENTENA.
New Zealand requires a 10-day stay
IN HOTEL QUARANTINE for all
travelers.
Nueva Zelanda requiere una
estadía de 10 días EN CUARENTENA DE HOTEL para todos los viajeros.
Note that the words
PUT and PLACE appear before “under quarantine” in our
examples. Often there is an official organization taking this kind of action.
You can also find examples of putting or placing someone “in quarantine”,
but they are less common.
note that:
observa que; appear before: aparecen antes de; often: a menudo;
an official organization: una organización oficial; taking this kind of
action: que toma este tipo de acción; less common: menos frecuentes.
And that’s "Ask a
Teacher". I’m Jill Robbins.
