Some armies, including the Russian and the WWII German, also have a rank of "Colonel General," and I've also heard "Captain General."  I have always assumed that "general" is an adjective in these titles, as it is in "general officer."  However, I've never figured out why the order of ranks is different for general officers than for line and staff officers.  Why does "Lieutenant General" outrank "Major General," but "Major" outranks "Lieutenant."

Herb

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dick Veit
Sent: 2009-04-03 14:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: General confusion

Peter Fries wrote:

In this context, no one has mentioned an example which my prescriptive self finds particularly annoying.  I have often heard newscasters, when interviewing the attorney general of some state or of the of federal gov't, address the person as 'general'.
I've had the same reaction to that form of address, since general is a following adjective in attorney general and surgeon general, but it raises a question perhaps someone on the list can answer. Presumably the military rank of general originated as an adjective (from "general officer"??). Anyone know how the noun "general" derived from an earlier adjectival form. Also, in ranks such as brigadier general and lieutenant general, which term is the modifier?

Dick Veit
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