City - its or their

Question

Hi,“The city decided to change its/their policy regarding cars in the centre.”Is it true that both are possible? I think that the one with ‘their’ emphasizes the fact that a group of people decided on the change of policy.One more thing. Could you answer my question regarding ‘ go on the offensive/defensive’ and how their use sometimes overlaps?  The people responding to the post don’t seem to understand what my question is and they keep addressing stuff that’s quite unrelated to it. I only want to know how they can be differentiated in an example like this one:“I told him that he was being silly and he immediately went on the offensive/defensive.” I heard people use both and I don’t know how to tell the difference in this situation.Thank you so much.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Use "it" to refer to a city. Use "their" to refer to a group of people.

“The city council decided to change their policy regarding cars in the centre.”

Ann225One more thing. Could you answer my question regarding ‘ go on the offensive/defensive’ and how their use sometimes overlaps? The people responding to the post don’t seem to understand what my question is and they keep addressing stuff that’s quite unrelated to it. I only want to know how they can be differentiated in an example like this one:“I told him that he was being silly and he immediately went on the offensive/defensive.” I heard people use both and I don’t know how to tell the difference in this situation.

I understood your question perfectly. I gave you specific examples of "go on the defensive" and "go on the offensive" and how we interpret the different usages. But perhaps you could not relate it to the specific question. So here is your sentence and example responses in each situation.

1.

“I told him that he was being silly and he immediately went on the offensive.”

He attacked me, calling me an insensitive idiot, and that I had better go back home and have my mother give me some lessons on how to be polite. He told me he was not going to speak to me again until I apologized.

2.

“I told him that he was being silly and he immediately went on the defensive.”

He responded saying that his behavior was perfectly normal and natural under the circumstances. He explained, "Silliness is a good thing. It helps lighten the seriousness of a situation. It makes people laugh. I was absolutely correct by being a little silly."

Can you see the difference between situation #1 and situation #2?

City - its or their

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