Front page news item from my small town paper:

QUOTE: "Nick ... helps organize and shelf books at the ... Public Library, where he has chosen to spend his volunteer hours, a requirement for his government class at the high school."

Now, is this verbifying a noun, or someone completely uneducated using shelf rather than the transitive verb shelve? And how about the rest of the sentence? I'm very uncomfortable with the way it is worded.

Some background here though: all high school students must provide 10 to 20 hours of community service in order to graduate in New York State. The amount of time varies from district to district.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Morgan:
Front page news item from my small town paper:

QUOTE: "Nick ... helps organize and _shelf_ books at the ... Public Library, where he has chosen to spend his volunteer hours, a requirement for his government class at the high school."

Now, is this verbifying a noun, or someone completely uneducated using _shelf_ rather than the transitive verb _shelve_? And how about the rest of the sentence? I'm very uncomfortable with the way it is worded.

Some background here though: all high school students must provide 10 to 20 hours of community service in order to graduate in New York State. The amount of time varies from district to district.

---

I think you are right in suggesting that the word shelf has been used when the word shelve was meant.
As for the rest of the sentence I'm not convinced that it's wrong as such but it certainly sounds very forced and inelegant. It would have been much better to write "...to spend the volunteer hours which are a requirement..."

voluntary hours would have been better still.

Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum

Read all about my travels around the world here.

"German held after plane incident
He threatened to fly motorized glider into European Central Bank"

This story made national and international news today. However....

glider noun A light engineless aircraft designed to glide after being towed aloft or launched from a catapult.
~~from AHD

Every account I have read said motorized glider!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Morgan:
Front page news item from my small town paper:

QUOTE: "Nick ... helps organize and shelf books at the ... Public Library, where he has chosen to spend his volunteer hours, a requirement for his government class at the high school."
Some background here though: all high school students must provide 10 to 20 hours of community service in order to graduate in New York State. The amount of time varies from district to district.

---

I agree with bob that shelve was the word he wanted. I don't think the writer was trying to verbify shelf. I think that he (or she) just made a mistake. I do have a problem with the word volunteer, though. This was mandatory community service work.

Tinman

Although the term "motorised glider" might be considered oxymoronic, there is a reason for it.

It is true that gliders (or or to be more precise, sailplanes, since gliders can also be those engineless aircraft that are towed behind normal aircraft) are designed to fly simply by using rising air currents and not by using an engine. However, many years ago people tried fitting small engines to sailplanes so that they can take to the air without their needing to be towed or catapulted into the sky. Once launched they can use the rising air currents to fly just as can a normal sailplane.

Because they can still soar without the use of an engine they are still sailplanes and not light aircraft, which rely on their engines to stay aloft.

I suggest that a more accurate definition of a the term "sailplane" might be: "an aircraft that is capable of sustained flight by the use only of rising air currents"

Richard English