From President Johnson's speech

Question

The time of justice has now come. It is right in the eyes of man and God that it should come. And when it does, I think that day will brighten

(1) the lives of every American.

(2) the life of (every/each) American.

(3) the lives of all Americans

From which of 1,2,3 should we choose? What does "should" here mean?

Inchoateknowledge · Accepted Answer

the lives of all Americans -- this is fine and expresses more their unity than

the life of each American -- one American has only one life

Teleostomi · Answer

Thanks!

Is (1) ungrammatical?

Cool Breeze · Answer

Should makes the statement more personal and emphatic. Of the alternatives, No. 1 is ungrammatical since an American has only one life. (A cat has nine, I've been told.)

No. 2: I would prefer the life of every American because there are almost 300 million Americans (or US citizens, to be more exact), and each is usually used to refer to a fairly small group.

No. 3 is fine, and so would be the life of all Americans, especially if we thought of the American way of life and assumed that it is more or less the same for all.

Cf.:
The life of sailors is hard.
The sailors lost their lives in the shipwreck.

Cheers
CB

Anonymous · Answer

The meaning behind the words is paramount in President Johnson's http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/650315.asp before the U.S. Congress.

Jim (Phoenix, AZ)

Teleostomi · Answer

Thanks cool breeze,

The president seems to have made a little grammatical error, then.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Today many people would be happy to have a President who only makes little grammatical errors.

Best wishes, Clive

From President Johnson's speech

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