Secretary VS Secretary-General

Dear Dr English,

I would like to know the difference between the function of a secretary and secretary general. It would be appreciated if you could also tell me how to use whom and whose. Lastly, what is the difference among SOS, FAO and IRO. Please also accept my thanks in advance.

Jantra Jarat

A secretary is a person whose job is to do the office work such as typing letters, answering phone calls and arranging meetings etc. while a secretary general (also spelled with a hyphen: secretary-general) is the person in charge of the administration of an international political organisation.

Regarding the use of whom and whose, since you did not mention their functions, I presume you mean their uses as relative pronouns and I will explain it as such. And due to the limited space of the column, I will not go into every detail. In case you are not quite familiar with a defining relative clause, allow me to explain it a bit: a defining relative clause is a clause that gives further information about the person or something you have mentioned earlier at the beginning of a sentence. Many relative clauses begin with a relative pronoun. The relative pronoun usually acts as the subject or object of the verb in the relative clause. The list of most common relative pronouns are which, that, who, whom and whose. ÒWhomÓ is used as the object of the clause as in: At the school reunion we met many friends whom we had never met for a long time.

ÒWhoseÓ is used when you want to talk about something relating to a person, thing or group you are talking about: for example, ÒThat's the guy whose car was stolen.Ó
I hope this clears your confusion.

Let's move on to your last question: I do not think the three acronyms have anything to do with each other. At first glance, SOS seems to be a distress signal meaning somebody is in great danger and asking for help. But in fact, it can mean all sorts of things ranging from Òsame old storyÓ to Samaritans of SingaporeÓ. FAO can refer to Food and Agriculture Organisation, a UN organization, and even Finance and Accounting Office(r). It is the same with IRO; it may come from International Refugee Organisation or International Relations Office. Without a context, it is very difficult to give the exact meaning of these acronyms to match what you are working on. I would suggest you search these acronyms in the Internet under ÒacronymsÓ.

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