In English, why "her", "his" kind of words are used with a body part?

Question

I wonder why in English, "her", "his" kind of words come together with a human body part.

Why is just "he raised an arm" wrong?
And why is "he raised his arm" right?

I am confused.
Could you give some detailed explanation about the reason of it?
My mother tongue is from totally different language tree than English, so sometimes even something simple comes to me very uneasy.

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

'He raised an arm' and 'He raised his arm' are both right.

Why do you think the first is wrong?

Smart Humanism · Answer

Rover_KE'He raised an arm' and 'He raised his arm' are both right.Why do you think the first is wrong?

Rover KE, Now I understand both is right. Thank you.

But, before I heard a native English speaking teacher say there are accasions that it is weird when "her" or "his" are not used.

"My stomach hurts"
"The stomach hurts"

Are both sentence correct?

Anonymous · Answer

Smart Humanism I wonder why in English, "her", "his" kind of words come together with a human body part.That is a very strange question!
Why is just "he raised an arm" wrong? Because we don't know whoses arm is raised.
And why is "he raised his arm" right? Because now we know whose arm is raised.
You can raise your arm or you can raise another person's arm. You can even raise both at the same time.

Tamguatlay · Answer

My stomach hurts. (OK)
The stomach hurts. (It is not correct. Whose stomach?)

Khoff · Answer

AnonymousWhy is just "he raised an arm" wrong? Because we don't know whoses arm is raised.

I can hardly imagine a context in which "he raised an arm" could be ambiguous -- maybe if someone is excavating a mass grave, or assembling mannequins. Otherwise we would assume if "he raised an arm" that he raised one of his own arms.

Anonymous · Answer

khoff AnonymousWhy is just "he raised an arm" wrong? Because we don't know whoses arm is raised.I can hardly imagine a context in which "he raised an arm" could be ambiguous -- maybe if someone is excavating a mass grave, or assembling mannequins. Otherwise we would assume if "he rai
sed an arm" that he raised one of his own arms.

We don't need silly situations about graves.
The fact is that inspite of a person usually raising their arm, one could raise another person's arm, simple as that. So this grammar and meaning should be brought to the student's attention.

Anonymous · Answer

khoffmaybe if someone is excavating a mass grave, or assembling mannequins. Otherwise we would assume if "he raised an arm" that he raised one of his own arms.

We don't need far-out scenarios about graves. But he simple fact is that one can raise another's arm, not just his own!.

Anonymous · Answer

(The following is US usage.)

"He raised an arm." and "He raised his arm." are both correct, but they are used differently. For example:

The teacher asked for answers to the problem.

He raised his arm. (This is the normal response in this situation.)

He raised an arm. (This is an unusual response. Something is going on here that the writer wants to point out. Perhaps the person is reluctant to answer but is forcing himself to. Thus he raises "an arm," almost as if it is not his own arm.)

"My stomach hurts." is the usual sentence.

"The stomach hurts." would only be used in an unusual situation. For example, the speaker is belligerent. He is not used to being ill, and is complaining only grudgingly. Thus he says "the stomach," as though it is not really his stomach that hurts.

Fivejedjon · Answer

AnonymousThe teacher asked for answers to the problem.He raised his arm. (This is the normal response in this situation.)

In BrE we raise a hand in that situation.

Khoff · Answer

We do too, in the U.S.

In English, why "her", "his" kind of words are used with a body part?

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