Should we write
“she is particularly demanding”
or
“she is particularly demanding”
?
That is the question.
When you text your friend about your common teacher, you wonder how the adjective
“requires”
is written .
With or without the letter
“a”
?
On social networks, some opt for the word
“require”
while others write
“demanding”
.
Likewise, what spelling should we adopt for the noun
“requirements”
or
“requirements”
?
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The adjective comes from the verb
“demand”
, that is to say
“to demand imperatively (what one thinks one has the right or the force to obtain)”
or
“to make something necessary, obligatory;
impose, demand
.
Coming from the classical Latin
“require”
(from
“ex”
and
“agere”
), the verb
“demand”
literally means
“to push out, to drive out, to bring out”
.
For the record, in the 14th century, the word
“exigier”
was used in a fiscal context and meant
“to collect, recover (a tax), imperatively demand what is due”
.
It evolved to mean, from the 17th century,
“to make indispensable, necessary”
.
Also read “Water lily”: incorrect spelling has come into use
Two spellings not to be confused
The adjective is taken from the present participle:
“demanding”
.
For example:
“We carry out work requiring attention to detail.”
The adjective
“demanding”
describes
“feelings”
or
“dispositions corresponding to demands, which ask a lot”
.
It is only since the 18th century that the word has taken on the meaning as we know it more frequently: it describes a person who demands a lot or who is difficult to please.
The spelling confusion probably comes from the fact that we often read
"demand"
when the verb is conjugated in the third person plural of the present indicative:
"They demand exemplary work"
,
"they demand excuses"
.
Be careful, however, with the spelling of the name which does without the letter
“a”
to write
“requirements”
.
Indeed, the name is itself a borrowing from the Low Latin
“exigentia”
, derived from
“demand”
.
As noted in the
Historical Dictionary of the French Language
,
"it designates first of all what is ordered by the circumstances"
(for example,
"the requirements of the situation"
), but it seems to have fallen out of current usage from the 19th century.
It is then used in the plural for
“what a person demands of others”
, particularly in terms of money:
“Financial requirements”
.
It was only at the end of the 19th century that it was used to describe the character of a demanding person:
“The requirements of the French teacher”
.
As for the noun in the singular, it more often designates what is imposed by a constraint.
We will therefore write:
“He is a demanding professor”
and
“I strive to meet the requirements of my superior”
.