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OttoJ Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Something
Tennessee Williams has a sentence in his play:
-Everyone has something he won't let others touch because of their- intimate nature...
Is this example enough to prove both 'it' and 'them' can be used to refer to 'something' interchangeably, without difference in meaning?
-Everyone has something he won't let others touch because of their- intimate nature...
Is this example enough to prove both 'it' and 'them' can be used to refer to 'something' interchangeably, without difference in meaning?
Top answer
OttoJ Is this example enough to prove both 'it' and 'them' can be used to refer to 'something' interchangeably, without difference in meaning? I don't think that the example proves anything. Williams needed a plural there, because he was referring to multiple things and "their" is the only choice for a 3rd person plural possessive adjective.
- OttoJ Is this example enough to prove both 'it' and 'them' can be used to refer to 'something' interchangeably, without difference in meaning?
- I don't think that the example proves anything.
- Williams needed a plural there, because he was referring to multiple things and "their" is the only choice for a 3rd person plural possessive adjective.
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3 Answers
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OttoJIs this example enough to prove both 'it' and 'them' can be used to refer to 'something' interchangeably, without difference in meaning?I don't think that the example proves anything.
Williams needed a plural there, because he was referring to multiple things and "their" is the only choice for a 3rd person plural possessive adjective.
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Do you mean that in 'Everyone has something', notionally he is talking about more than one thing, because each person has 'something', and he is talking about more than one person notionally?(I really don't like using 'them' to refer to 'everyone')
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OttoJDo you mean that in 'Everyone has something', notionally he is talking about more than one thing, because each person has 'something', and he is talking about more than one person notionally?Yes. Everyone means "all" and I think there is more than one of us.
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