This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
which is correct?
top-up
Feb 12, 2006 10:28
18 yrs ago
3 viewers *
English term

held vs. takes place

Non-PRO English Social Sciences Human Resources
When you are talking about funerals you can say that a funeral is *held*...Can you say that a funeral *takes place*? If you can, is that a matter of different register then?
Responses
4 +6 Held
4 +2 either, but "held" is more appropriate
4 funeral takes place
4 hold - to cause to take place, make happen
4 You need to sort the tense out first
3 +1 A difficult one, this...
1 -1 a funeral service has held and then the burial took place
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (2): Yvette Neisser Moreno, David Knowles

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

Kurt Porter Feb 12, 2006:
future tense also gets almost triple the hits..and I think it sounds a bit more formal, which is not a bad thing in these circumstances.
lafresita (X) (asker) Feb 12, 2006:
To Kurt: It will be a future tense in this construction

Responses

+6
8 mins
Selected

Held

Either is fine.

Mr. Google says that "funeral was held" gets about triple the hits that "funeral took place" receives.

"Mary Jane Austin, 60, of Chantilly, died Oct. 22 at Manor Care at Fair Oaks. She lived in Loudoun County for many years. She is survived by her sons Jeffrey F. Dowdy of Ocala, FL, Billy E. Wyatt of Chantilly and Larry “Elmer” Austin of Front Royal; daughters Linda J. Austin of Chantilly and Karen Nuckols of Fredericksburg; eight brothers; four sisters; 12 grandchildren; three-grandchildren. The funeral was held Oct. 27 at Colonial Funeral Home in Leesburg. Interment was at Sterling Cemetery. [Colonial Funeral Home] "



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2006-02-12 10:38:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Of course, tense may play a part in your question (past, present and future). :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 27 mins (2006-02-12 10:55:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Pope's funeral will be held on Friday at 1000 CET
By MaltaMedia News
Apr 4, 2005, 13:15 CET

Email this article
Printer friendly page


The funeral of Pope John Paul II will be held this Friday at 1000 CET. The Archbishop of Malta, Mons Guzeppi Mercieca, and the President of Malta, Dr. Eddie Fenech Adami, will attend the ceremony.

Peer comment(s):
agree Dave Calderhead
14 mins
Thank you, Dave.
agree Brie Vernier
2 hrs
Danke Brie!
agree RHELLER : either, held is slightly more formal
5 hrs
Thank you, Rita. Have a great day!
agree Seema Ugrankar
13 hrs
thank you, ugranker
agree Rajan Chopra
1 day 58 mins
Thank you, langclinic
neutral sergey (X) : a funeral (meaning - burial, cremation) takes place; a funeral (meaning - funeral service/mass) is held. i agree with john bowden's entry ...
1 day 4 hrs
We are all entitled to our opinions. :) Thank you.
agree conejo : I think "held" is better... sounds more sensitive to the family
1 day 13 hrs
Thank you, conejo.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks to all!"
3 mins

funeral takes place

Tuesday ... at .....

you cannot say "is held"
Peer comment(s):
agree sergey (X) : i think one can say that but it sounds rather insensitive to me ...
14 mins
Thanks.
neutral Dave Calderhead : UK death/funeral announcements usually give notice that 'the funeral will be held ..... // hence only neutral - either can be used
24 mins
Irish announcements seem to be different, the funeral of Joe Soap will take place
agree John Bowden : "the funeral will take place" sounds more natural newspaper announcement language to me too (UK usage)
3 hrs
Thanks John, that's the way I feel too.
disagree RHELLER : why not? (check your references before saying "you cannot say")
5 hrs
Thanks Rita, that's a lovely little comment on an European Sunday evening.
disagree conejo : I think "held" is fine.
1 day 13 hrs
Something went wrong...
-1
21 mins

a funeral service has held and then the burial took place

Funeral :The burial procession accompanying a body to the grave.

FUNERAL :A ceremony or group of ceremonies held in connection with the burial or cremation of a dead person.

Sounds tricky?

Peer comment(s):
disagree RHELLER : "has held" is incorrect - you are confusing the asker
4 hrs
Something went wrong...
+2
32 mins

either, but "held" is more appropriate

Regardless of the actual definition of "hold," both options can be used in U.S. English. However, your sense that "takes place" has a different register--at least in the US--is correct. "Takes place" is less formal; when speaking of funerals, a solemn occasion, "held" is generally used and is more appropriate (in both past and future tenses). If you look at the funeral announcements in a U.S. newspaper, I think this is what you'll find. To my ear, "The funeral will take place" makes it sound more like a mundane event (though certainly correct).
Peer comment(s):
agree Marie Scarano
9 mins
agree conejo : Definitely.
1 day 13 hrs
Something went wrong...
14 mins

hold - to cause to take place, make happen

funeral is not something that one causes to take place or makes happen.
funerals just take place - a fact of life.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 36 mins (2006-02-12 11:04:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

i think this "sensitivity issue' is also reflected in the google counts:

happening now:
14,100 - is held
23,900 takes place

in the past (which is remote now)
227,000 was held
109,000 took place

in the future (also more remote)
186,000 will be held
67,600 will take place
Peer comment(s):
neutral Dave Calderhead : if you don't arrange for it, the funeral will not take place!
11 mins
i am not talking about semantics and linguistics, i am talking sensitivities and personal choice.
neutral Kurt Porter : "Th funeral is being held" may have received more hits I'd probably say, "when is the funeral?" But that wasn't the question. :)
1 day 57 mins
if i were to attend a funeral and needed to call a grieving family to find out about the time, i would find 'what time does it take place?' more appropriate than 'what time is it being held / is held or are you holding it ?'
Something went wrong...
1 hr

You need to sort the tense out first

The funeral will take place/will be held on Friday.
The funeral took place/was held last Friday.
The funeral is taking place/is being held today.
The funeral takes place today. [General statement, "hold" not appropriate here for some reason.]

There's very little difference in register, but the passive ("is held" etc.) is generally considered more formal.
Something went wrong...
+1
3 hrs

A difficult one, this...

My impression, having reached the age where I seem to be attending funerals more and more regularly - indeed, people are starting to ask me if it's worth my while going home from the crematorium - is that funerals & cremations tend to "take place" - "The funeral will take place on Saturday...:, whereas if you add the word "service" or "mass", this somehow makes the event (even) more formal, and you would tend to say "A funeral mass will be held on Saturday...". "A memorial service will be held...." etc.

My impression is that, once you add "mass" etc. it seems to take the decisions out of the hands of the family and makes it more an event which is "done to" them - i can't explain it more academically than that, and other colleagues may have a different impression. However, in the local newspapers the usual form of words is "the funeral will take place..."
Peer comment(s):
agree sergey (X) : well put! that's what i was thinking too. funeral service / mass is / will be held - no problem ... a funeral (meaning burial / cremation) takes place - more appropriate english ...
1 day 1 hr
Thanks sergey!
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search