Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
15:24 Oct 21, 2010
English to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / sculpture
English term or phrase:sculpture or sculptures
My query is deceptively simple. In a language test people have to finish the word "sculp***" and I don't know what is correct! Here is the context: " Have you heard of the world's first ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden? Everything is made out of snow and blocks of ice and is constructed anew every autumn. In 1990, a French artist displayed his ice sculp*** in a large igloo there."
There is (unlike here) no indication of the number of letters missing. So, what would you say, sculpture or sculptures?
Comments from NS and NNS are equally valuable, as this is a language test! Thanks a lot.
Explanation: I would go with the plural. If the sentence read "a French artist displayed his ice ***sculpture***...", then I would also expect to see the title of the work, or at least some specific reference to it.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2010-10-21 17:00:09 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Also, in my opinion, the singular begs the question "What scupture?"
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2010-10-21 17:16:10 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
In other words, the singular would only be acceptable if the sculpture in question was somehow named in some other part of the text or if it were so famous that anybody could infer from the the context what sculpture the author is talking about.
For example, in a sentence like "a Spanish artist displayed the paintin*** he made in response to the bombing of the town of Guernica", everyone understands that it must be one painting, i.e. Picasso's Guernica.
Well this was an unequivocal vote, so here are the well-deserved points and I accept that the usual answer to this question in the test is going to be "sculptures" , especially as six OroZ.com experts say so. However, I am glad that Bernhard and others did at least consider the singular and could understand why I had actually decided on "sculpture" (as meaning his oeuvre). Thanks to all for a great discussion! 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
I wonder if such an artist recreates some of his/her master pieces a la Icy Mona Lisa? headline: "Monsieur X recreates some of his most famous ice sculptures. Ice cream is being served at the exhibition." Or is this indeed a very fleeting art: here today, forever gone tomorrow (in the spring)?
He could have indeed recreated or built one new sculpture but we do not have the necessary information to say it was so. Sculpture and sculptures are right. But I take my chances and go with plural.
"In 1990, a French artist by the name of Jannot Derid visited Kiruna, Sweden in order to display his ice sculptures. The sculptures were housed within a large, circular igloo that visitors could enter in order to see the sculptures." http://hubpages.com/hub/ice-hotels
I think what everyone is missing here is that they are ice sculptures that, if I am correct, are fleeting. It is unlikely that it would be a body of work as it only runs from the fall to next spring and then all is gone.
However, it still could be one big piece or several smaller ones, toss a coin and pick.
with d-vachliot: that had to be some igloo alright to display the whole "ouevre" of an artist. If that's what is meant and I fail the test, I'll learn French instead (I already know some).:) PS: with jc on the thought of ice sculptures and ice artists. I was indeed thinking of just sculpture(s) for a while (gee) but when considering ice sculpture, the whole artwork thing becomes a bit unlikely.
I would say both are correct, at least grammatically (and without any further context who's to say what's wrong and what's right) - and it's a language test for non-native speakers. As far as I am concerned, the previous sentence doesn't do much for me except telling me all of this has to do with a lot of ice. The igloo isn't likely to be in the hotel and why would the info about the hotel matter then?
It could be small ice sculptures (probably not "all" his ice sculptures he ever made but some of them or a few new ones or a few important ones) - but how could you possibly know? Plural is more likely (= well, he showed some ice sculptures there and they were his, or as in: with regard to showing his ice sculptures, "he" decided to show them in an igloo - how original! wow, cool! :)) but what if he "did" only show "one" particular sculpture? Then I might get this answer wrong!! And what about the "one" ice sculpture of Monsieur X: also no indication!
Bring on the graders. I will deal with them. (Crazy bunch!). :)
If you ask me why I choose plural, I would say there is no way to say for sure the artist only shows one ice sculp.
That's probably because you gave us no indication of the preceding sentence/s. If you had been discussion a particular sculpture created by a French artist or Henry More, this might have been a more likely response.
as yet nobody has entertained the possibility that it could be "The French artist displayed his ice sculpture" because one is referring to his art as a whole. You can say "The sculpture of Henry Moore" can't you?
I would love to hear your justifications for deciding on sing or pl , whether gut feeling or some rule about mass nouns or whatever.
In fact the reasons for saying "sculpture" interest me the most.
This ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hotel may pertain and indicates the artist held an exhibition. That would seem to mean plural sculptures. "In Spring 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in a cylinder-shaped igloo in the area."
my suggestion is to give the points to both answers. You might also want to ask why they answered like they did. Should provide some interesting insights into how people perceive English.
However, as it is a LARGE igloo, I would go with the plural. No rule, just a gut feeling (and if you ever saw me in person, you would know I trust my gut!).
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
8 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +6
sculptures
Explanation: I would go with the plural. If the sentence read "a French artist displayed his ice ***sculpture***...", then I would also expect to see the title of the work, or at least some specific reference to it.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2010-10-21 17:00:09 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Also, in my opinion, the singular begs the question "What scupture?"
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2010-10-21 17:16:10 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
In other words, the singular would only be acceptable if the sculpture in question was somehow named in some other part of the text or if it were so famous that anybody could infer from the the context what sculpture the author is talking about.
For example, in a sentence like "a Spanish artist displayed the paintin*** he made in response to the bombing of the town of Guernica", everyone understands that it must be one painting, i.e. Picasso's Guernica.
d_vachliot Local time: 22:49 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Greek PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Well this was an unequivocal vote, so here are the well-deserved points and I accept that the usual answer to this question in the test is going to be "sculptures" , especially as six OroZ.com experts say so. However, I am glad that Bernhard and others did at least consider the singular and could understand why I had actually decided on "sculpture" (as meaning his oeuvre). Thanks to all for a great discussion!
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +6