government or governmental

[moonlike]

Hi
I remember my lecturer at uni once warned us not to say 'governmental uni' and to say 'state uni'. How about some companies, organization and workplaces that are controlled by the government? Should we say government/ state/ or governmental places?
Considering NGO, non-governmental organization, does it mean we can't use 'government/state' to refer to organizations and companies?

Thanks a lot.

 

[charliedeut]

Hi,

In such cases, I tend to use "state-owned university/company". I also tend to avoid the use of "public" when speaking of education, since the term may be misleading. See this part of the definition of "public education" from thefreedictionary.com:

The United Kingdom provides an anomalous use of the term "public school". In England the term "public school" refers to an elite of privately funded independent schools which had their origins in medieval schools funded by charity to provide education for the poor. (The anomaly points to one of the fundamentals of public education, which is inclusion: in times past the commitment to inclusion was demonstrated by reaching out through charity.)

charliedeut

 

[Rover_KE]

I suggest you forget governmental; I've never found it necessary to use it. Its use is rare and rather specialised.* For most purposes the word government used adjectivally is all you need.

*Those still interested can read post #2 here.

Rover

 

[moonlike]

I suggest you forget governmental; I've never found it necessary to use it. Its use is rare and rather specialised.* For most purposes the word government used adjectivally is all you need.

*Those still interested can read post #2 here.

Rover

Thanks Rover for that reference. Honestly, I didn't digest it well. I just got if it refers to politicians and people in authority we use 'government'.