My examples and questions are:
Some of the ailments of the West have come East?
-> why not ‘the East’?
… a number of sturdy pillars: hard work, high savings rates and Confucian values.
-> why not ‘hard-working’?
-> The difference between ‘saving rates’ and ‘savings rates’?
Thank in advance.
Some of the ailments of the West have come East?
-> why not ‘the East’? [color=blue]To me, your original sentence isn’t quite right. You could say either ‘come east’ (no capitalization because ‘east’ is simply a direction) or ‘come to the East’ (East is a name).
… a number of sturdy pillars: hard work, high savings rates and Confucian values.
-> why not ‘hard-working’? [color=blue] ‘Hard-working’ is an adjective, but the rest of your list consists of nouns, so ‘hard work’ is appropriate.
-> The difference between ‘saving rates’ and ‘savings rates’? [color=blue]The plural ‘savings’ is used to talk about money that you save at the bank.
Thank[color=blue]s in advance.
[color=blue]You’re welcome.
‘Some of the ailments of the West have come East?’
I think there’s a deep meaning behind the phrase ‘come East’. For ex., there’s a transition of something from the Westto the East .
Once, I heard a phrase that is ‘Go, Go West’, something like that.
So…?
I think that Amy is right in this instance – “east” in this case is used to convey direction.
Hence, “Some of the ailments of the West have come east.”
the West is a place; if you were to put “the” before “east”, it would become “the East”.
“Some of the ailments of the West have come to the East.”