Before studying categorical syllogisms, students learn to translate statements into standard categorical form. The first step is translating the statement such that it uses only the “to-be” verb, so the form becomes [Subject] [to-be verb] [Predicate nominative]. This standardizes the statements so that the arguments are more easily analyzed, which is beneficial when the arguments themselves get more complicated.

But it can result in some very strange statements, e.g. translating “The Apostle Paul rebuked Peter at Antioch” into

The Apostle Paul was a Peter-at-Antioch rebuker.

Most spell-checkers will mark “rebuker” with that squiggly red underline, and some students might balk at the goofy compound noun.

Also, if one is not careful to keep the meaning the same, some of the translations can get rather awkward, such as turning “Susan works hard to resist temptation” into (ahem),

Susan is a hard-to-resist temptation worker.

Most of my students have found the awkwardness of such translated categorical statements to be merely funny, and have just taken it in stride. But occasionally a student will be bothered by it, perhaps thinking that their answers (and thus they themselves) will be thought of as strange or weird. In a larger classroom setting, when everyone is saying the same strange statements, they get used to it pretty fast, but it might be different in a home school setting, or among a small set of students.

The awkwardness of the translations can often be reduced by simply adding a normal noun in a normal place, trying to make the statement sound as normal as possible. For example, rather than translating “The forests will echo with laughter” into

The forests will be with-laughter echoers,

an acceptable translation would be

The forests will be places that echo with laughter.

This requires the addition of a new noun (“places”), but it is perfectly correct. The two rather awkward statements from above could also be correctly translated

The Apostle Paul was a man who rebuked Peter at Antioch.

Susan is a girl who works hard to resist temptation.

This method usually results in long predicates, but more ordinary sounding statements. For more on this topic, read my earlier post, Common errors to avoid: The “to be” verb.