0
Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Linguistics Studies
Notional agreement
Is this acceptable grammar?
"A particular lady of quality is meant here; but every lady of quality, or no quality, are welcome to apply the character to themselves." - Henry Fielding.
"A particular lady of quality is meant here; but every lady of quality, or no quality, are welcome to apply the character to themselves." - Henry Fielding.
Top answer
Not by today's standards, but that quote is from 1743.
- Not by today's standards, but that quote is from 1743.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
4 Answers
0
0
Where the standards for noun-verb agreement different back in those days?
00
And this is a somewhat similar contemporary example:
"I usually spot a Liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican at one hundred feet, and I have no trouble at all when they come close enough so I can hear them talk." - And More by Andy Rooney, 1982.
"I usually spot a Liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican at one hundred feet, and I have no trouble at all when they come close enough so I can hear them talk." - And More by Andy Rooney, 1982.
00
'They' is widely accepted as a gender-non-specific singular pronoun these days. Only an increasingly small circle of traditionalists insist that one should use 'he or she' in its place. 'He or she' often sounds awkward. 'They' is certainly acceptable in informal contexts. In formal contexts, the best choice is probably to re-cast the sentence entirely - thereby avoiding the issue.
Some w
Some w
0
Related Questions