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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
plural reference of some singular pronouns/words
Hi,
Can you help me to get a grasp of this? When is it allowed to have a post-reference of singular words like 'a situation', 'a person', 'someone' or 'anyone' with the words like 'their' or 'they'? Or when is it preferred to have one over the other?
If you say a situation or person is hollow, you could mean they have no real ...
Can you help me to get a grasp of this? When is it allowed to have a post-reference of singular words like 'a situation', 'a person', 'someone' or 'anyone' with the words like 'their' or 'they'? Or when is it preferred to have one over the other?
If you say a situation or person is hollow, you could mean they have no real ...
Top answer
This is a common mistake grammatically even among native English speakers. However, it is technically correct to use a singular pronoun, even in the case you described. Whether you want an apple or an orange, it will taste good.
- This is a common mistake grammatically even among native English speakers.
- However, it is technically correct to use a singular pronoun, even in the case you described.
- Whether you want an apple or an orange, it will taste good.
- In your example, you juxtaposed "situation" and "person".
- While possible, this is clumsy to implement, as, to be completely accurate, you would have to say, If you say a situation or person is hollow, you could mean that it or he has no real ...
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4 Answers
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This is a common mistake grammatically even among native English speakers. However, it is technically correct to use a singular pronoun, even in the case you described.
Whether you want an apple or an orange, it will taste good.
In your example, you juxtaposed "situation" and "person". While possible, this is clumsy to implement, as, to be completely accurate, you would
Whether you want an apple or an orange, it will taste good.
In your example, you juxtaposed "situation" and "person". While possible, this is clumsy to implement, as, to be completely accurate, you would
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AnonymousIf you say a situation or person is hollow, you could mean they have no real ...Hi, I'm not sure why you group a "thing-word" in with all these "people-words." The plural post-reference for a singular term is only used to avoid the awkward gender issue. In English, things don't have genders (except ships) so the problem disappears.
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Thank you. Why did you use 'were' here? Does the word 'unless' functionally the same as the word "if" in terms of it being part of the creation of a hypothetical sentence? Thank you.
Your sentence:
Personally, I'd say "his coat," unless I were strictly in the company of ladies.
Your sentence:
Personally, I'd say "his coat," unless I were strictly in the company of ladies.
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