In German class a few weeks ago, we were doing drills. The word "Wörterbuch" was unfamiliar to me, so I raised my hand. "Ich habe eine Frage, Professore! Was ist 'das Wörterbuch?'" ["I have a question. What is…?"] The professor, walking past me, brusquely said "Dictionary!" and went to help another student.

I, feeling hurt, pulled out my German-English dictionary from my bag and consulted it, all the while muttering to myself with irritation. “Geez, it'd only take her two seconds to tell me what the word was, but now I'm wasting half a minute of class time looking it up. Ah, here it is! Let's see, "Wörterbuch: (neuter) noun: Dictionary."

At which point I slapped my head and was amused. A fine example of a comprehension error! I had interpreted her utterance as an imperative command, using the common English procedure of converting a noun to a verb: "(You) [consult a] dictionary!" When it was actually a nominative sentence with pro-dropping: "(The answer is) (a) dictionary." Of such issues is the study of linguistics made.

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