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GainRain Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
We
When a customer asks a store clerk about the business hours of the store, the clerk very likely will say:
"We close at 9pm" or "We open at 9am"
Could "we" refer to the store or the employees of the store? Only a physical store could open or close, not the employees. This ambiguous use of "we" suggests colloquial English, until I found this:
http://www.uww.edu/gradstudies/schlpsych/
"We are a program dedicated to training professional practitioners who will be able to function at the highest level of competency in the many roles school psychologists are called upon to play."
A program is a list of activities and really contains no people. Could, then, "we" here refer to the program or the people running the program? This second ambiguous use of "we" suggests formal English.
How do I reconcile the two examples?
"We close at 9pm" or "We open at 9am"
Could "we" refer to the store or the employees of the store? Only a physical store could open or close, not the employees. This ambiguous use of "we" suggests colloquial English, until I found this:
http://www.uww.edu/gradstudies/schlpsych/
"We are a program dedicated to training professional practitioners who will be able to function at the highest level of competency in the many roles school psychologists are called upon to play."
A program is a list of activities and really contains no people. Could, then, "we" here refer to the program or the people running the program? This second ambiguous use of "we" suggests formal English.
How do I reconcile the two examples?
Top answer
If you have a problem with "we close / open at 9" then simply think of it as "we close / open the store at 9". The store is implied and this particular usage is very common and certainly not specific to English. I would use that same phrase in my own language.
- If you have a problem with "we close / open at 9" then simply think of it as "we close / open the store at 9".
- The store is implied and this particular usage is very common and certainly not specific to English.
- I would use that same phrase in my own language.
- " and again there's nothing unusual about it.
- Granted, "we are a program" is not as common as "we are an organization" or "we are a business" but the structure is essentially the same.
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4 Answers
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If you have a problem with "we close / open at 9" then simply think of it as "we close / open the store at 9". The store is implied and this particular usage is very common and certainly not specific to English. I would use that same phrase in my own language.
As for your second question regarding the use of "program", I see "we are a program..." as "we are the people behind a program ...
As for your second question regarding the use of "program", I see "we are a program..." as "we are the people behind a program ...
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"We" - Here refers to the people who respond to a product or service information. smdl
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can u please tell me what this means"cracking gre has never been easy"?from what i understand is,it means that gre is tough and it is never easy to crack
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sanjeevabhujang can u please tell me what this means"cracking gre has never been easy"?from what i understand is,it means that gre is tough and it is never easy to crackPlease, ask this question in a new thread.
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