Which is correct, "In the real world" or "In real world"?

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Jong-Hoon Kim - 31 May 2010 16:26 GMT

Dear English teachers:

Which is correct, "In the real world" or "In real world"? I used 'in
the real world" in my writing, but my prof. changed it to "in real
world". Both my professor and I do not specialize in English. He is
American, though.

Best,
Jong-Hoon

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Don Phillipson - 31 May 2010 17:03 GMT

> Which is correct, "In the real world" or "In real world"? I used 'in
> the real world" in my writing, but my prof. changed it to "in real
> world". Both my professor and I do not specialize in English. He is
> American, though.

Consider:
1. Decisions in the real world must be timely.
2. Timeliness is essential for real world decisions.

In case 1 "world" is a noun (in a phrase characterizing the
subject, decisions) and requires an article, either definite
THE or indefinite A. (We could also write about decisions
"in a real world" -- but not "in real world.")
In case 2, "world" is part of the compound "real world"
which is here used as an adjective, modifying "decisions."
So the rule about articles (THE or A) is determined by the
noun decisions (not the noun world, which has an adjectival
function in this particular case.)

In other words, context determines your question. Without
the full sentence we cannot say whether your instructor was
right or wrong.

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Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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Mark Brader - 31 May 2010 17:35 GMT

Jong-Hoon Kim:

> > Which is correct, "In the real world" or "In real world"? I used 'in
> > the real world" in my writing, but my prof. changed it to "in real
> > world". Both my professor and I do not specialize in English. He is
> > American, though.

Don Phillipson:

> 1. Decisions in the real world must be timely.
> 2. Timeliness is essential for real world decisions.

I'd say 2 requires a hyphen, "real-world decisions". But now consider:

3. In real-world decisions, you rarely have all the facts you want.

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Mark Brader, Toronto | An actual human would feel guilt in this situation.
msb@vex.net | -- Scott Adams: Dilbert

My text in this article is in the public domain.

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D. Stussy - 31 May 2010 21:18 GMT

> Jong-Hoon Kim:
> > > Which is correct, "In the real world" or "In real world"? I used 'in
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> 3. In real-world decisions, you rarely have all the facts you want.

Without a trailing noun (by which "real world" is an adjectival form), use
of the definite article is correct - there is only one "real world."

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Leslie Danks - 31 May 2010 17:23 GMT

> Dear English teachers:
>
> Which is correct, "In the real world" or "In real world"? I used 'in
> the real world" in my writing, but my prof. changed it to "in real
> world". Both my professor and I do not specialize in English. He is
> American, though.

Either version might be correct -- we'd need to see the complete sentence
before passing judgement.

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Les (BrE)

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2010

Which is correct, "In the real world" or "In real world"?