I have earned a Master's Degree in business administration
Tomasz P. Szynalski
My full name is Tomasz P. Szynalski, but you can call me Tom. I live in Wroclaw, Poland. I have earned a Master's Degree in business administration at the Wroclaw University of Technology.
I was just looking at the anti-moon site. This expression 'I have earned a Master's Degree ...." is not an expression that a native English speaker would use. It is an expression that a native English speaker might use, but it is a slightly emphasis, a slightly different way of expressing yourself, to how British people speak or write.
When I went to university, they used to talk about 'reading' a particular subject. I read English at University. Now - er - days, I think that people are more likely to have studied a particular subject at University.
It always used to be the case, that British people tried to achieve things without trying too hard. The idea that one actually had to 'earn' something, suggests in someways that one might come from the 'labouring classes'.
Surely, they did not make you 'work'?
I was just looking up 'earned my Degree' and it seems to be quite an accepted 'American' expression.
So, I thought; What would be the equivalent 'British' expression?
'given a Degree'
'awarded a Degree'
'completed a Degree'.
If you say that you 'studied Physics at London University' it does not really tell someone else, whether you suceeded in getting a Degree.
Also, Degree's are 'given', not necessarily 'earned'. A Degree is a recognition of achievement. Although, I admit, that someone would be very surprised if they were not given a Degree if they achieved top marks in all their Modules.
However, there are such things as 'Honourary Degrees', such as:
Sir Paul McCartney is awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Yale University in the United States.
One of the things that I would say, is that sometimes the most sucessful authors in the English language are people who are not native speakers. So, they are then able to use the English language in a more interesting way, and introduce new ideas. I am thinking in particular of
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter, born in Wales of Norwegian parents.
Wales is still GB. Did he grow up speaking Welsh and Norwegian before grade school? Joseph Conrad is probably a better comparison for Tom.
Hallo! Conrad? Dahl?
Tom's degree is in busyness administration not in creative writing.
I think 'busyness' is an interesting example of 'creative spelling'.
"Earned a master's degree" is indeed a common American expression, and sounds entirely native to me. You can also be awarded a degree, complete a degree, or simply get a degree. I just got a bachelor's, myself, although I did a year's worth of grad courses toward a master's. (All good American terminology!) My university gives, or, more commonly, offers degrees in a wide variety of subjects.
It's true that Americans "study" a subject or "major in" a subject rather than "reading" a subject, as Brits apparently do. Of course, we have to do as much reading as they do! So I don't think their choice of phrase is somehow meant to be lofty or easy -- it's just very literally what you do to get the degree. It would never occur to me to read class issues into the idea of "earning" a degree, either....
I'll get my Master's in May.
And in June I will be telling people either "I have a Master's" or "I got my Master's in May."
In Britain, what you say, and how you say it, tells other people about who you are, and where you come from.
You can 'play down social class' or you can be totally obsessed by it. Traditionally, one of the indicators of social class, particular membership of the Professions, was Education.
Tony Blair famously said that his policies were about: Education, education, education! suggesting that in some way 'class divisions could be broken down by 'Education'!
People found that an attractive proposition, particular as the Conservatives at the time, were promising 'Cuts, cuts and more cuts'! The Conservative Spokeswoman at the time, said that there was no link between 'class sizes' and 'educational attainment'. She was proposing 'Cuts' to the State School Budget and larger class sizes.
Needless to say, very few Conservative MPs had been educated in State Schools or sent their children to State Schools. There is a different language to describe education in State Schools and Public (i.e. Private) Schools.
So, small differences in language, suggest big differences in Social Background.
To Robin Michael
How come you have two first names?
Dear Wendal
I live in Scotland. I was born and christened in England. In England 'Robin' is not a very macho name. It is a bit like 'Hilary' at name which I normally associate with women, even though I did know a 'male' called 'Hilary'.
Is Hilary a boy’s or a girl’s name?
- Blurtit
Hilary was originally a Latin boy's name, Hilarius, which derives from the adjective hilaris, or "cheerful." (We can still see its roots in modern words ...
www.blurtit.com/q883821.html - 46k - Cached - Similar pages
In Scotland, Robyn is often a Girl's name, so to avoid confusion I have got into the habit of writing 'Robin Michael'. I do not give my surname as this would be too personal.