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Proto Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Confusing grammatical structure

Hi,
I am confused about this sentence:

"Either way, we are neither of us our own masters"

Could someone tell me how this structure is called? I mean "we are neither of us". I have never seen such thing before and I can't find it anywhere. Does this structure has a name? Or mabey it is just relative clause but someone forgott to add comas...

Thanks in advance Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

That pattern is rarely used, but it is essentially the same structure as shown below. I don't know if it has a name, but it's a sort of displaced appositive construction, the second form being a normal appositive construction. We are all our own masters.

  • That pattern is rarely used, but it is essentially the same structure as shown below.
  • I don't know if it has a name, but it's a sort of displaced appositive construction, the second form being a normal appositive construction.
  • We are all our own masters.
  • = We all are our own masters.
  • = All of us are our own masters.
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6 Answers
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That pattern is rarely used, but it is essentially the same structure as shown below. I don't know if it has a name, but it's a sort of displaced appositive construction, the second form being a normal appositive construction.


We are all our own masters. = We all are our own masters. = All of us are our own masters.

Hence, substituing "neither of us" for "all":
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Well that explains ewerything Emotion: smile I have another question. Can 'neither' be replaced with 'none' if there are more people involved?
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ProtoCan 'neither' be replaced with 'none'
Yes!

CJ
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I was reading it once again and again I got confused.

"We are all our own masters. = We all are our own masters. = All of us are our own masters.

Hence, substituing "neither of us" for "all" "

Just to make it clear: the sentence 'We are neither of us our own masters' means that both of them aren't their own masters or they are? Because you substituted 'neither' f
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Protoyou substituted 'neither' for 'all' and I don't know why you do did that for.
I thought you were already familiar with those structures with "all", and that you already knew that those were grammatical.
Protothe sentence 'We are
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Ok now it is clear to me Emotion: smile
Thank you

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