0
Yoong Liat Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

Correct usage if words

Caroline Melanie Lee, 60, was charged with felony 3rd-degree child abuse after she allegedly struck a student at Darnell-Cookman School of the Medical Arts in Jacksonville in the face, causing them to bleed from the nose.
According to a Duvall Schools Police report, the dispute began when the school district made an Instagram post last Wednesday congratulating Lee for being named Teacher of the Year.

1. Is "them" correct? Shouldn't it be "it", since the face was bleeding?


2. Can "on" replace "for" without a change in meaning?



Thanks.
  

Top answer

Yoong Liat 1. Is "them" correct? Shouldn't it be "it", since the face was bleeding?

— Anonymous

  • Yoong Liat 1.
  • Is "them" correct?
  • Shouldn't it be "it", since the face was bleeding?
  • "Them" does not refer to the face, and it could not because the face could not bleed from the nose, as a matter of sense.
  • The student bled from the nose.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

2 Answers
0
Yoong Liat1. Is "them" correct? Shouldn't it be "it", since the face was bleeding?

"Them" does not refer to the face, and it could not because the face could not bleed from the nose, as a matter of sense. The student bled from the nose. The writer used "them" to refer to the student because "them" has become the de facto unisex singular pronoun, used when t

0
0
Yoong Liat1. Is "them" correct? Shouldn't it be "it", since the face was bleeding?

No, "it" would be weird. "them" refers to the student. The use of "they/them/their" for a person of unknown/unspecified *** is a common workaround for the lack of specific pronouns in English. It is very common in conversational speech, but can look more or less horrible in w

0

Related Questions