Today we’ll see how to define personal status, in particular a position or rank of a person. As an example we’ll use the noun ‘headmaster’, so the head of a private school in the USA.
So, what can be the personal status of a headmaster? Well, that person may be alive or dead, in office or out of office, just appointed to be a headmaster or just temporarily employed. These are just a couple examples, you will find more below:
the headmaster-to-be
the man due to take up his appointment as headmaster
the late headmaster
the headmaster who is now dead
the headmaster present
the headmaster who was at the occasion
the actual headmaster
the headmaster himself
the headmaster in question
the headmaster who is the subject of discussion
the so-called headmaster
the headmaster who I think is very bad at his job
the would-be headmaster
the man determined to be headmaster
the stopgap headmaster
the man who was temporarily acting as headmaster until someone was appointed permanently
the sacked headmaster
the headmaster who was dismissed
Naturally, although we used the noun ‘headmaster’ in all the examples above, you can use any other noun in this place that denotes a person as far as it makes sense. These are first of all nouns denoting people’s positions at work or in an organization.
Maybe you could think of a couple examples yourself? Maybe you also know more words or expressions that you can use to talk about someone’s status. The examples above don’t exhaust all the possibilities by any means. Perhaps some such words and expressions are better suited for some nouns rather than others. If you have any idea, I’ll be glad to read about it in the comments.
You can also watch the video version if you want: