thangvietnam wrote:
Thank you
Magoosh expert.
apprenticeship as a driver
apprentice to a driver are correct
Dear
thangvietnam,
It's true that both "
apprenticeship as" and "
apprenticeship to" are correct, with slightly different connotations. Using either with the noun "driver" sound very peculiar. Once a person learns to drive on his/her own, there's not much else to learn in order to be a professional driver. One may have to study and take an additional DMV test, but there isn't really any such thing as being an apprentice in some kind of professional driver.
Apprentices are most typical in artisan & craft professions --- a wood-worker, a cabinet maker, an iron-worker, stone mason, an inscription carver, a carpenter, a roofer, a shoe repairman, a tailor, etc. ---- high-skill blue collar jobs. They are not typical in either highly professional white collar jobs (doctor, lawyer, professor, etc.) nor in purely manual jobs (ditch digger, street cleaner, etc.) Even being a professional driver, while requiring moderately more skill than a ditch digger, is not really a "high skill" blue collar job.
If I say "
I work as an apprentice as a cabinet maker" --- this has the connotation that, yes, I can call myself a cabinet-maker, but I am very new to the job and still working under the instruction & guidance of someone more experienced. This idiom would be more appropriate for an apprentice toward the end of his apprenticeship, about to "graduate" and become a full artisan on his own.
If I say "
I work as an apprentice to a cabinet maker" --- this has the connotation that, I am really just a beginning and have no right even to call myself a "cabinet maker" at this time. I work as an aide to a genuine cabinet maker, and presumably it is my intention to learn the trade so that, one fine day in the future, I would be able to call myself a "cabinet maker." This idiom would be more appropriate for an apprentice toward the beginning of his apprenticeship, still a rank beginner and basically just a glorified servant to the master craftsman.
Does this distinction make sense?
Mike