Education or educational

[bogialaoleu]

I cannot understand when we can use education or educational. Eg: we say "Education system or Educational system", or "Reduce the size of classes may improve Education or Educational standards"? Please help! I lost marks in two test because of this problem

[bhaisahab]

I cannot understand when we can use education or educational. Eg: we say "Education system or Educational system", or "Reduce the size of classes may improve Education or Educational standards"? Please help! I lost marks in two test because of this problem

Use "education" in both examples.

[bogialaoleu]

But I took the second eg from Cambridge Dictionaries Online. It uses Educational. It's really hard to distinguish. Please explain to me!

[bhaisahab]

But I took the second eg from Cambridge Dictionaries Online. It uses Educational. It's really hard to distinguish. Please explain to me!

"Reduce the size of classes may improve Educational standards"
Are you saying that you found the above in Cambridge Dictionaries Online?
It's not even a correct sentence, I would write it like this "Reducing class sizes may improve standards of education".

[Tdol]

The sentence in Cambridge is Reducing the size of classes may improve educational standards.

[emsr2d2]

I would use either "educational standards" or "standards of education" in that example.

[bogialaoleu]

Oh sorry, yeah, It must be "Reducing the size of classes". But they're just examples. I dont really...care about the answers. I just want to know the use of two words.

[5jj]

Please use only English in this forum.

[bogialaoleu]

Why do we use Education for Education system. And why do we use Educational for the sentence: "Reducing the size of classes may improve educational standards"?

[BruceDeitrickPrice]

"Educational" is an adjective and is usually your first choice in modifying a noun. Thus "educational choices" is perfect English.

The problem comes with the fact that English (and Germanic languages generally) is very accepting of using NOUNS AS ADJECTIVES. Thus, we say "education choices" and might even pile on the nouns like this: "education choices anxiety" or some such. This phrase is clumsy and annoying but not illegal. In some contexts it might even be clever.

For several decades the overuse of nouns proliferated in USA. I called this tendency "Nounspeak" and ridiculed it. The excesses have abated.

The best English is lean English. Keep adjectives to a minimum, especially adjectives that are actually nouns!

(For a somewhat scholarly look at this matter, Google "An Inquiry Into Modifier Noun Proliferation.")