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1,600 | 5,721 | 76823_0 | > ...which is of course zero. > > ...which of course is zero. Which one is preferred? |
1,601 | 87,393 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > “have basically been doing something” or “have been basically doing > something” > I'm searching basically for conversation classes" or > I'm basically searching for conversation classes The second one sounds better to me, but is the first one actually wrong or are they both possible? If they are, why? Is "basically" considered as an adverb of manner? Is there some sort of rule on the position of this adverb? |
1,602 | 152,169 | 76823_0 | In English there is some flexibility in the placement of adverbs: > **A:** Also I ate the lasagna. > **B:** I also ate the lasagna. > **C:** I ate also the lasagna. > **D:** I ate the lasagna also. There is a difference in nuance between these sentences, but I am not concerned with that here. My interest is in simple technical writing where it is most important that the reader be able to parse the sentence grammatically. That is, it should be clear that "also" is an adverb, and that "ate" is the verb being modified. This is trickier for sentences containing long phrases: > Add numerically greater items to the list first. Presumably the answer will depend on the native language of the reader. But I'd appreciate any specific or general advice, as I communicate daily with people who speak many different languages. **Edit** : As many people pointed out, my examples are not good. Here are some examples from real life, edited to respect confidentiality: > While the attenuator is running, occasionally the bias will saturate and the > output will sit at -4 V. vs > While the attenuator is running, the bias will occasionally saturate and the > output will sit at -4 V. The reader's native language is Spanish. > In the past couple weeks we experimented with applying this segmentation to > some of your images and found it made an accuracy improvement of 0.5-1.5%. vs > We experimented in the past couple weeks with applying this segmentation to > some of your images and found it made an accuracy improvement of 0.5-1.5%. The reader's native language is Japanese. |
1,603 | 128,556 | 76823_0 | Do we play the lottery? Do we play in/on the lottery? Do we bet the lottery? What is the appropriate verb for the sentence and is it necessary to use a preposition? |
1,604 | 115,926 | 76823_0 | I do understand how distinguish is used to differentiate between two things. However, I've also heard it once being used as: _Jim distinguished it as an old dairy._ So I'm having trouble understanding the usage _"distinguishing A as B"_. The question being, what are we distinguishing between in this case? I was searching this website, and found that distinguish could also possibly mean difference between something and everything else. However, I believe I need more convincing. |
1,605 | 60,728 | 76823_0 | When something can have both favorable and unfavorable consequences, the term `double-edged sword` is often used to describe it. Why? Does a `double-edged sword` have unfavorable consequences? Are `double-edged swords` known to accidentally kill the person wielding the sword? |
1,606 | 125,707 | 76823_0 | Is there a term, a phrase or an idiomatic expression to describe a young woman who, while pretty when seen from behind, is ugly, if not repulsive, when seen from the front? After some searches I focused my attention on "double-faced woman", but I'm unsure whether this is the best expression one can think of. |
1,607 | 166,447 | 76823_0 | A friend of mine and I were talking about a party that we've had today and he told me the following: > I won't have dinner at home, lol. And I replied: > Neither am I. Based on these topics, Using either, neither and too and Is the statement "Neither am I" right?, my answer was not wrong at all in myself comprehension. I want to know your opinion, is the above wrong? If so, why? And what's the _correctiest_ way to express equality in that situation? |
1,608 | 9,943 | 76823_0 | I don't know if many of you watched the new Matt Damon movie _Hereafter_. Near the end of the movie, the little boy who lost his twin brother meets Matt Damon in the Book reading room, and says something like: "Hey, I know you, you are a sight[?]". Indeed, I'm missing the word between the brackets, how did he refer to a medium? He said something like _sightkey_ , _sightkick_ , _sightsikh_ , but none of these are the correct words, I've tried looking it up on the Internet but I'm truly unable to come across this synonym. Can you help? |
1,609 | 189,050 | 76823_0 | In correspondence to donors of a nonprofit, I think use of the words of and that are superfluous. What is your opinion? He is the boy I saw yesterday vs He is the boy that I saw yesterday. This statement could replace all the notes we send vs. This statement could replace all of the notes we send. |
1,610 | 9,941 | 76823_0 | If a Copywriter produces several articles for printing, what are his works collectively known as? I feel the answer is not _copies_ as this would indicate it is several articles reproduced from an original. I wonder if it might be _copy_ , a bit like how _data_ is plural? |
1,611 | 35,580 | 76823_0 | In a recent question, an antonym for _waning_ was requested. _Waxing_ was naturally suggested, but the OP declined the word because he was actually looking for a word meaning _non-waning_ , and thought that "antonym" was the word to describe his request. The difference is: _waxing_ means _getting stronger/more intense_ and _non- waning_ , if it were a word, would mean _unchanging_ (not getting either stronger or weaker). What is the difference between the words actually called, if not antonymous? |
1,612 | 9,947 | 76823_0 | I've read lots of professional articles that use the two terms interchangeably, sometimes within the same paragraph. Are the two terms really semantically identical? In formal writing, are there any situations where it would be recommended to use one or the other? |
1,613 | 56,472 | 76823_0 | When working in a 2D coordinate system you could say that X is the _horizontal_ axis and Y is the _vertical_ axis. Extending this to 3D, is there a similar word for the Z axis? (I'm aware of _Width_ , _Height_ and _Depth_ , but obviously _horizontal_ and _vertical_ aren't synonymous to _width_ and _height_ , which is why I don't want to call the Z axis the _depth_ axis.) |
1,614 | 103,846 | 76823_0 | When saying a sentence like: > Nikola Tesla **__** famous because he was a genius. Should the blank be replaced by **is** or **was**? Or is it dependent on _when_ the person is/was famous? If so, what exactly are the rules? I searched on Google and English.SE but didn't find an answer, even after using quotes to counter the amount of stop words in the question... |
1,615 | 35,589 | 76823_0 | What is the history of "X is dead. Long live X"? For example, > Location is dead. Long live Location. > > JavaScript is dead. Long live JavaScript. I feel like I'm missing out on a joke. |
1,616 | 165,868 | 76823_0 | Can someone sneeze a camera, or should they sneeze _AT_ the camera? This is an extract from an IELTS practice test. Because the dictionary says "sneeze at smt", I had to put another word from the text, i.e. "installed", which fits better grammatically. However, I then suddenly found in the answer keys that the correct answer is "sneezed". It is obvious by the context that the question is focusing on sneezing at a camera, but the grammatical structure confused me. Please could you comment? |
1,617 | 32,051 | 76823_0 | The context of this question is naming a function in programming. I'd like to find a good name for a function that takes a parameter of type **prerequisite**. For instance, if I have a function that takes a parameter of type **requirement** , then the name of it could be **require**. But what would be a good corresponding name when the parameter is a **prerequisite**? |
1,618 | 32,050 | 76823_0 | I once had a manager whose level of literacy was lacking to the extent that he would nearly always return my technical reports with sections rewritten such that they became either ungrammatical, or would convey an inaccurate notion to most readers (due to poor wording). One of my colleagues would often describe that manager as being _illiterate_ , or (if he happened to be feeling magnanimous), _semi-literate_. I was wondering, are there any better words or phrases to describe someone who is prone to such things as grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, tautologies and misinterpretation of (relatively) common words/terms? In other words I'm looking for descriptive terms, or even colloquialisms, that would apply to someone who is particularly poor at expressing themselves **in writing**. As an aside, I am also interested in what words could be used to describe the opposite quality... I.e., descriptors for someone who is particularly articulate and eloquent in their writing style, and good at finding the most concise, and effective way of conveying even the most complex ideas. (Perhaps something along the lines of _well-spoken_ , or _well-versed in the art of written communication_?) |
1,619 | 57,782 | 76823_0 | If you want to explain a situation where, for example, you want to talk about a bus driver who goes and take a coffee sometimes on the way, which one would be more appropriate: > There is this one driver, who goes and gets a coffee on the way and you have > to wait like for 10 minutes. > > There is this one driver, who would go and get a coffee on the way, and you > would have to wait like for 10 minutes. |
1,620 | 165,863 | 76823_0 | I know _chemist_ means someone who sells medicines or drugs. However, we use _physicist_ for someone who studies/researches physics, and so will anyone naturally understand. But it has always confused me why don't we use _chemist_ similarly, and selling medicines is not completely related to studying chemistry. So what is the word's origins and why did its meaning came to be so unnatural? |
1,621 | 57,781 | 76823_0 | What rule of grammar, or etymological history, makes "prophe-cy" (noun) become "prophe-sy" (verb)? What causes the C to become an S when the word usage changes? |
1,622 | 2,166 | 76823_0 | Which one of these adjectives is correct? I can see that both of them are being used, I'm just not sure which one is grammatically correct. Are there any general rules to follow as to the use of one against the use of the other? |
1,623 | 171,615 | 76823_0 | Is it ever wrong to use the word "more" in front of an adjective? For example, is the following sentence grammatically incorrect: "I am more happy when I am reading poetry"? |
1,624 | 190,516 | 76823_0 | Is there a rule as to when I use "more" in a sentence or "-er"? For example, "I think it would be more fun/funner if we stayed home tonight." I know the correct usage in this sentence but is there a general rule to follow? |
1,625 | 24,517 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > "More clear" vs "Clearer", when to use "more" instead of "-er" What's the comparative for the word _modern_? |
1,626 | 4,081 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > "More clear" vs "Clearer", when to use "more" instead of "-er" Are there any rules for which words are allowed to have `-er` and `-est` endings? Being a native speaker, I do it by ear, but what distinguishes **free/freer/freest** , **calm/calmer/calmest** , and **speedy/speedier/speediest** from **watchful/*watchfuller/*watchfullest** or **creative/*creativer/*creativest** ? |
1,627 | 34,761 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > "More clear" vs "Clearer", when to use "more" instead of "-er" Which of these two terms is correct? If they are both correct, are they identical in usage and meaning, or is one of the words more appropriate for some usages than the other? |
1,628 | 1,425 | 76823_0 | In my grammar book ( _English Grammar_ , HarperCollins Publishers), I read that _none is occasionally treated as plural, but it is usually regarded as singular_. Can you give me an example of sentence where _none_ is used as plural pronoun? |
1,629 | 8,150 | 76823_0 | In the process of writing to two people I typed: "Are either of you free?" and was immediately called out by my grammar checker which suggested I should write: " **Is** either of you free?" The second of these options feels intuitively wrong to me, as I am addressing two people so should be using the plural. However I feel this is tied up in the whole issue of whether a group should be referred to in the plural or singular sense, e.g. > Red Hot Chili Peppers is a band Uses "is" to indicate that the band is a singular entity, whereas > Red Hot Chili Peppers are a band Uses "are" to indicate that the band is made up of multiple people. So, which is correct? " **Is** either of you free?" or " **Are** either of you free?" |
1,630 | 149,671 | 76823_0 | In the phrase "none of us is promised tomorrow", should it be _is_ or _are_? |
1,631 | 180,478 | 76823_0 | Let see this sentence: a person needs to change his / her mind so that he /she can become good. or `a person needs to change his mind so that he can become good` is the second one incorrect? I've never seen anyone write like this `a person needs to change her mind so that she can become good` |
1,632 | 43,379 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun ("his" versus "her" > versus "their")? I remember reading that "their" is third person plural, not singular. If you are talking about a student, most people would say: "The student opened their locker". If "their" is plural, then you wouldn't be able to use it. If you can't use "their", what do you use? |
1,633 | 45,274 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun ("his" versus "her" > versus "their")? I am linking to this post for reference. The acceptability of "they" as a singular pronoun is growing. Has it grown to the point where it is acceptable in formal publications, such as journal articles, business proposals, or political speeches? It seems to be that it is not quite there; most people are still too concerned about being negatively judged for it. However, the options of "one", "he or she", and "s/he" are similarly avoided for their cumbersome and pedantic tones. I often see either "he" or "she" used exclusively as an alternative, however, as there is no official stance on one pronoun or the other referring to either or, this opens the door for issues of implicit gender discrimination. I try my best to skirt the issue altogether when I write, often dramatically revising paragraph -- and even paper-- structure. This, of course, is ridiculous. What is the best option for communicating the very commonly needed genderless singular personal pronoun in formal situations? |
1,634 | 4,021 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicates:** > Gender neutral pronoun > Is it correct to use "their" instead of "his or her"? I am writing a software documentation. I have this issue: I am talking about a generic user of the software. Should I say “his preferences”, “his/her preferences” or “its preferences”? |
1,635 | 28,890 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Gender neutral pronoun For example, user clicked the button. I don't know if the user is male or female, what gender should I use? Now I read a book, where the user is "she", but I've seen before books where the user was "they". So, what is right? |
1,636 | 128,994 | 76823_0 | I would like to know whether _his_ or _their_ is the correct pronoun to be used in the following sentence: > Neither she nor he has finished ....... work. In my opinion it should be _their_ but some say _his_ is to be used. |
1,637 | 146,848 | 76823_0 | What can you call a 3rd person who's gender is unknown? > He - Male > > She - Female I've never heard of an unisex word for 3rd person. |
1,638 | 177,688 | 76823_0 | What would be the best answer for this sentence? "If anyone comes through the door tell them/him/her" Because I have researched a lot on this topic for addressing and some say to use they/their/them and others to use him or her. Also when I googled it and searched here on this forum the above two opinions were seen. So which is it? |
1,639 | 103,776 | 76823_0 | I know this more in line with Etiquette (which is only a proposal), but it's been bugging me for a while, and I'd like some clarification. When referring to others on this site (and many others, including forums, chat rooms, etc.) sometimes, online handles of users may not reveal gender. For example, taking user @Robusto, if I were to never click on his profile page, how would I refer to .....yeah. If I'd like to reference @Robusto somehow (pretend I'm thanking @Robusto for @Robusto editing my question) "Thanks to @Robusto for editing my question, **he** really helped me out." or "Thanks to @Robusto for editing my question, **she** really helped me out." or "Thanks to @Robusto for editing my question, **they** really helped me out." or "Thanks to @Robusto for editing my question, **it** really helped me out." What do I do in this case? |
1,640 | 112,814 | 76823_0 | Is the following verb selection correct: "None of the 200 hospital patients was discharged today." |
1,641 | 162,098 | 76823_0 | I wanted to email a group of students to check how they are going with their assignment and it occurred to me that " _how is everyone going with their assignment_ " does not seem grammatically correct. Matching a singular subject " _everyone_ " with a plural word " _their_ " seems a bit odd. However, "how is everyone going with his/her assignment" sounds more off. Thanks heaps! Any comment would be highly appreciated. Wen |
1,642 | 5,194 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > None as plural indefinite pronoun because none of them sound/s like the obvious choice to me |
1,643 | 142,066 | 76823_0 | From a recent question on the cooking site: "Every time I see either neighbor _they_ thank me again for the wonderful cookies." It seems that it _should_ be, "Every time I see either neighbor _he_ thanks me again for the wonderful cookies." But that just doesn't sound right. The question was labelled a duplicate because of a gender-neutral aside. The gender issue isn't the the core question. "Either" is a _singular_ noun, is it not? So only the second statement above is correct? It is only after _that_ is clear that the "he or she" issue makes the statement even more awkward if my neighbors are opposite genders. |
1,644 | 22,072 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > None as plural indefinite pronoun With words that indicate portions—some, all, none, percent, fraction, part, majority, remainder, and so forth How can we cdecide the Verb will be singular Or Plural> * **None** of the garbage was/were picked up. * **None** of the chairs was/were comfortable. * She inspected all of the plates and **none** was/were chipped. Can Any one please give some more Example and help me out...... Examples: None of the pie was eaten. None of the children were hungry. In a sentence like “None were missing,” there is an implicit noun that answers the question, “None of what?” That noun is what determines whether none takes a plural or singular verb. Examples: * None were missing. (None of the cookies were missing.) * None was missing. (None of the pie was missing.) |
1,645 | 90,509 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” > versus “their”)? the title is a little confuse because i don't know how to explain in one line... so: i have a portuguese phrase like this: Marque alguém como amigo(a). Ele(a) receberá uma notificação. which litteraly translated to english means: Mark someone as friend. He(or she) will get notified. In portuguese, the (a) means the female version of the word. How i can do it in english, like this? Mark someone as friend. He/she will get notified. Thanks! |
1,646 | 117,222 | 76823_0 | > A tree fell onto the school roof in a storm, but none of the students > **was** injured. Shouldn't the correct sentence should be > A tree fell onto the school roof in a storm, but none of the students > **were** injured. because students is plural? |
1,647 | 188,758 | 76823_0 | I have just read in Emma by Jane Austen a phrase which surprised me: > I can think of but one thing - Who is in love with her? Who makes you > _their_ confidant? > > (Jane Austen: Emma, Chapter VIII, Obreey PocketBook) Here the lattest _who_ is clearly in singular (followed by _makes_ ), the gender of the person under question is unknown, so I understand it as a _gender neutral their_ : > Who makes you _his/her_ confidant? Who has confided you the information > about her lover? I wouldn't expect such an old usage of _their_ functioning as a _singular gender neutral_ word. I've always considered this "grammar trick" as a much more modern invention. Is it really a usage of the gender neutral _their_? Is it so old that Jane Austen could have used it? Or was it just some recent editor who didn't consider the good old Austen "correct enough" and "fixed" it? |
1,648 | 61,801 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun ("his" versus "her" > versus "their")? I am sure this has been asked before, I just don't know how to put the problem in a few words. I am concerned about using third-person pronouns when refering to a person indirectly, through status, occupation, role, etc... Example sentence: A free person can do whatever (he / she / he or she / they) think please(s) (him / her / him or her / them). How should I avoid the controversial use of he and she? Currently I am converting these cases into plurar, so I would write: Free people can do whatever they think please them. But what if I must refer to precisely one person? Using "he" is discouraged, using "she" feels wrong for the same reason, using "he or she" is clumsy and sounds "over-correct". I have been encountering "she" in literature, but is there an alternative? |
1,649 | 61,391 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun ("his" versus "her" > versus "their")? > None as plural indefinite pronoun Should it be **_his_** or **_their_** here: A: Why did you put on that baseball cap? B: Because I want to take shower A: Nobody takes shower with **_his_** cap on. |
1,650 | 52,431 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun ("his" versus "her" > versus "their")? Is there generic way to write something like this Karin Bellow replied to his own post. But making this sentence generic, because writing `his` I suppose that I write to male person. How can I do that? |
1,651 | 172,528 | 76823_0 | I've noticed a tendency in recent technical literature to use feminine pronouns, instead of the more traditional masculine. For example one might write `she [the user] enters her password`. It's not difficult to see how this may come to be in the age of political correctness, but I always found it quite amusing. To countervail, some computer scientists have started calling the motherboard "fatherboard", which is even funnier. Which brings me to my question: When I write technical documentation, I use the plural `them` or `their` with a singular user. For example, I might write something along the lines of `the user enters their password`, in an attempt to sound vague and non gender-identifying, while at the same time preserving the notion of the user as a person. While this sounds acceptable to my foreign ears, it occurs to me that I might be severely abusing the language. * Is my usage of `their` in this context correct? * Is there something else that I can use in its place? |
1,652 | 117,806 | 76823_0 | Is it correct to say "The list of reports a user will see may depend on the permissions group(s) they are in."? I have asked the writer to change the text to say "users" to match "they", but he is resisting. |
1,653 | 122,529 | 76823_0 | Is it now considered appropriate to use plural pronouns to replace singular nouns in order to avoid gender issues? |
1,654 | 122,291 | 76823_0 | The following sentence may be found in this recent BBC article: > None of the passengers was charged for the ride. Is the use of _was_ correct here? I would have expected _were_ in its place. Were it not for the fact that the BBC is considered an authority on the usage of English, I would have glossed over this as an editorial oversight. However I'm left wondering whether this usage correct in some way that I am not familiar with. |
1,655 | 165,316 | 76823_0 | I'm a bit lost in gender neutrality. Please see the example below. A: What, I got a child‽ B: Sooner or later *he or she* will show up. From my own research, people put preferences this way: they > she > she or he > he. I think that _they_ , _she_ and _he_ should not be used as it is only one child and we do not know anything about the gender. So _she/he_ does seem to be the most suitable for this sentence. Or is it not? PS: Would you rather write "he/she" or "he or she"? (I find she before he less natural than vice versa, although people on the internet say...) |
1,656 | 6,854 | 76823_0 | Is it good English to say "They have just left", when talking about a single person (perhaps someone you don't know the gender of)? (I am a native English speaker, I'm looking for the view held by lexicographers). |
1,657 | 59,005 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is it correct to use "their" instead of "his or her"? Often I seen some write wrote "their" and some using "his/her". Which is correct? Everyone has their weaknesses. or Everyone has his or her weaknesses. |
1,658 | 148,453 | 76823_0 | For example, I want to refer to someone on the internet, but I don't know this person's gender. Which personal-pronoun do I use? (as article I mean he, she, it, etc) |
1,659 | 148,636 | 76823_0 | I am new here and I don't really know how to post, so please forgive my mistakes. My question is this: Is a sentence like " _everybody has to obey **their** own parents_" nowadays completely acceptable under a grammatical point of view or it is still preferable, in written form, to use " _everybody has to obey **his/her** own parents_"? Thank you very much and sorry if this has been asked before. |
1,660 | 161,258 | 76823_0 | The following quotes are from the Wikipedia article. It seems to me that they all use "they" for generic person. For example, in the Chesterfield's example: "If a person is born of a . . . gloomy temper . . . they cannot help it.", "a person" appears to be singular but it represents any person. It is essentially plural. 'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear the speech."— Shakespeare, Hamlet (1599); "If a person is born of a . . . gloomy temper . . . they cannot help it."— Chesterfield, Letter to his son (1759); "Now nobody does anything well that they cannot help doing"— Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive (1866); "Nobody in their senses would give sixpence on the strength of a promissory note of the kind."— Bagehot, The Liberal Magazine (1910); "I would have every body marry if they can do it properly."— Austen, Mansfield Park (1814); Caesar: "No, Cleopatra. No man goes to battle to be killed." Cleopatra: "But they do get killed" —Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra (1901); "A person can't help their birth."— W. M. Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848); "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another . . ." —United States Declaration of Independence; **My question** Is the use of singular they in the following passage grammatically correct? Someone was approaching my room. I could see that they were alone judging from their footsteps. They knocked on my door. I didn't answer. They knocked again. I still didn't answer so they left. |
1,661 | 90,898 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” > versus “their”)? I want to learn more usage of 'their' which is an possessive and in any way of 'they'. You can see a few examples below. Are all those words correct usage in those sentences? _to banish_ : If someone is banished, **they** are punished by being sent away from the country where they live. _to invade_ : if someone or something invades your privacy **they** disturb you when you want to be alone. When an actor completely immerses **themselves** into a role... |
1,662 | 176,982 | 76823_0 | In a blog in Harvard Business Review, David Franke writes: > After all, _each person_ has _their_ own ego, personal goals, aspirations > and agendas; there is always going to be a need for compromise, negotiation, > and politicking. Does the subject agree with the verb here? |
1,663 | 114,263 | 76823_0 | ## The issue On my mother language, Portuguese, we have a lot of little differences to English on Pronouns. ## My question Which phrase is correct? Since I don't know if user is a man or a woman (or a bot), which pronoun I have to use after the comma punctuation? 1. Every time a user replies the e-mail, he receives error notifications. 2. Every time a user replies the e-mail, she receives error notifications. 3. Every time a user replies the e-mail, it receives error notifications. 4. Every time a user replies the e-mail, man receives error notifications. 5. Every time users reply the e-mail, they receive error notifications. ## The mess On Portuguese, "user" = "usuário", that is a male noun, so I think that 1st option is correct. But changing "user" by "person" = "pessoa", that is a female person, I think that the 2nd option is the correct. I don't know if "it" (3rd option) can be use to generalize to male, female and objects in English... On Portuguese, we can generalize it using another type of pronoun, "se", that can function like "man" on English (4th option), but I don't know if it is appropriate to use as a general pronoun or if it cause some confusion with a male person... Or I can use only the 5th option? "it" doesn't have a direct correspondent word on Portuguese as "Personal Pronoun": English Portuguese Meaning ------- ---------- ------- "he" = "ele" -> A male person "she" = "ela" -> A female person "it" = "ele" -> An object that has a male Portuguese noun "it" = "ela" -> An object that has a female Portuguese noun Well, we can use another type of pronoun, "Demonstrative Pronoun" (similar to "this" and "that"), to have the same meaning as "it": English Portuguese Meaning -------------- ---------- ------- "it" = "this" = "isto" A thing near first person (I) "it" = "these" = "isto" Some things near first person (I) "it" = "that" = "isso" A thing near second person (you) "it" = "those" = "isso" Some things near second person (you) "it" = "that" = "aquilo" A thing far from first and second persons "it" = "those" = "aquilo" Some things far from first and second persons |
1,664 | 35,135 | 76823_0 | How would you refer to a gender neutral subject with a reflexive pronoun? > It is unbelievable how a perpetrator will cast **oneself** in the role of > victim. That does not seem right. Is there a better word other than "oneself"? I thought "oneself" would refer to the narrator. Here I try to refer to the subject. **Themselves:** It is possible to use a 'singular they' for pronouns, but to say "themselves" surely can not be correct as a gender neutral reflexive pronoun? According to this article, it would only seem to make sense when qualified by a singular they. **Themself:** "The form is not widely accepted in standard English" according to the Oxford dictionary. > It is unbelievable how they, as a perpetrator, will cast **themselves** in > the role of victim. I'd like to avoid making the sentence this complex. |
1,665 | 74,374 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun ("his" versus "her" > versus "their")? 'Their' is a third person plural; however, I often see it used as a third person singular as well. Is this simply a stylistic preference? Or are there hard grammatical rules behind the answer? |
1,666 | 3,485 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > None as plural indefinite pronoun I was programming when it suddenly struck me that I did not know if "none" should be singular or plural. Fore instance, should I write "none is yellow", or "none are yellow", if I know nothing more about what "none" refers to? In this related question, it came out that in many instances "none" as a plural indefinite pronoun is completely acceptable. However, that didn't really teach me when to use it as singular or plural. |
1,667 | 57,397 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun ("his" versus "her" > versus "their")? > Is it appropriate to refer to a person of unknown sex by "it"? If so, could anyone give an example pls? |
1,668 | 141,894 | 76823_0 | I often use _their_ as a gender-neutral term. Example: > When a writer promotes their work ... But I am not sure whether this is acceptable English, or whether this is rather colloquial. I.e. can a formulation like this be used in formal language, e.g. papers or official documents? |
1,669 | 24,717 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Gender neutral pronoun Very often, I find myself writing about _a user_ , an anonymous person whose gender I don't know. Right after mentioning this abstract user, I need to make a reference to the said person, and I often end up using _he/she_ , as a shorter version of _he or she_. Example: > Note that the user may get confused by the fact that green button turns red > when he/she presses the blue button. And then I need to make another reference in another sentence right after that, and I find it heavy to write _he/she_ again... So I write _he_. I am confused by this because in French, every single noun has a gender. We don't have any neuter. _Utilisateur_ , which means user in French, is masculine. Whereas _personne_ is feminine. So I don't have this problem in French. If I talk about _a user_ then I can say _he_. If I talk about _a person_ , I say _she_. But how to deal properly and elegantly with this situation in English? Is it acceptable to say _he_ , as when one says _man_ while talking about both men and women in general? |
1,670 | 124,449 | 76823_0 | I have encountered some people using pronoun "they" when referring to a single person, such in this example: > Even if the cyclist is 100% at fault (I don't think they are), leaving the > scene of an accident is a far more serious offense than failing to yield the > right of way. Is this happening in order to avoid specifying gender of the subject (if unknown), and is this use regular? |
1,671 | 38,250 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender neutral, singular pronoun (his vs. her vs. > their)? I would like to know if when I'm writing about a "user" (in the broad sense), what do I use? Example: "from the user’s perspective, saving a file is very easy; ? only needs..." What is correct: she, he, she or he, or they. |
1,672 | 192,098 | 76823_0 | Is it acceptable to write: _A person can develop their talent._ or _a person can develop their uniqueness_? In this case the _person_ is used as a general term, not a specific person. |
1,673 | 192 | 76823_0 | Is this sentence grammatically correct? > Anyone who loves the English language should have a copy of this book in > **their** bookcase. or should it be: > Anyone who loves the English language should have a copy of this book in > **his or her** bookcase. |
1,674 | 108,455 | 76823_0 | How do you address someone whose gender is not specified, when you are writing something? Take this as an example: > The teacher said we should go; `____` said we are good pupils. Would you insert _he_ or _she_? I’ve often read _she_ in these cases, but is this a general rule? |
1,675 | 48 | 76823_0 | Is there a pronoun I can use as a gender-neutral pronoun? > Each student should save **his** questions until the end. > Each student should save **her** questions until the end. |
1,676 | 97,825 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” > versus “their”)? In the sentence ‘Everyone should make _everyone’s_ part’, what adjective possessive pronoun should replace the word _everyone’s_? |
1,677 | 103,469 | 76823_0 | Has the language really changed this much in twenty years? "None of your students have showed up" - a sentence supplied by this very website as a proper one - seems wrong on two counts to me. Twenty years ago (or in my high school and college) "none" took a singular verb, as did "no one" and "nobody" and "nothing." And the past perfect of "show" was "shown." Show, showed, shown. They will show up. They showed up yesterday. They had already shown up. In this example sentence ("None of your students have showed up...") I cringed two times. Shouldn't it read, "None of your students has shown up..."? Or am I really that old? |
1,678 | 80,583 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > None as plural indefinite pronoun In my work I am often exposed to sentences written by nonnative speakers of English. I often come across sentences with a singular noun and a plural verb as in: No error occurs when the file is loaded. I know this is not technically wrong, but I am used to the general case being written No errors occur when the file is loaded. I suppose one argument could be that if you used the plural noun version, it wouldn't cover the case where there is one error. But to me, using the plural noun emphasizes "not even one" and so is the better choice. Are these sentences completely interchangeable? Is one preferred by native speakers over the other? |
1,679 | 158,022 | 76823_0 | Is the following sentence grammatically incorrect because the word "they" is plural when there is only one teacher? How can it be corrected? > Thomas may be afraid to speak to the teacher as he feels they hold prejudice > against him. Alternatives I concidered are > Thomas may be afraid to speak to the teacher as he feels he hold prejudice > against him. and > Thomas may be afraid to speak to the teacher as he feels the teacher hold > prejudice against him. but these seem even more awkward. |
1,680 | 93,421 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” > versus “their”)? Is there a generalized way to do this. Who is it used in modern media (internet, tv, movies, songs), in a colloqial context, (among family and friends), and in a formal environment (work office) |
1,681 | 68,757 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun ("his" versus "her" > versus "their")? > Gender neutral reflexive pronoun — equivalent to "himself" and "herself" I am thinking "themself" is a very old deprecated way of saying this. What would be more proper? An example would be: One does not simply build Rome themself. It just seems awkward with "themself." |
1,682 | 141,951 | 76823_0 | In one of my answers here, I used the singular they: > When someone orders a rouge, **they** mean red wine which in French > translates to le vin rouge. My question is, is it right for me to use _they_? Or since I used _someone_ at the beginning, is it imperative for me to use _he_ or _she_? Any insights? |
1,683 | 11,982 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Gender neutral pronoun. In everyday use, I often use the pronoun "they" to refer to a unknown person if I do not know their sex. As in: > Bob: Who was it that emailed you about the company cutting back? > > Sally: I don't know. They didn't say. I remember using "they" this way in a paper for my college English 101 class, and my teacher marked off for it, saying that it is incorrect. So is it? It's definitely much easier to say than "he/she"... Perhaps it's considered correct (or at least accepted) in speech but not in written form? |
1,684 | 30,760 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicates:** > Speaking about someone of unknown gender… > Gender neutral pronoun I'm writing a paper about markets and mention several times providers and their offers. The problem is when I use the singular, since I'm not sure if I should use a male or female pronouns. For example, is it a provider and **his** offer or a provider and **her** offer? |
1,685 | 130,033 | 76823_0 | Why do we use _their_ instead of _his_ in this sentence? > another driver flashes their lights |
1,686 | 140,566 | 76823_0 | I need to refer to a user of a certain service and would like to avoid a perticular gender such as his/her and not use one either. Could I say "The user attempts to maximize own capacity.", instead of "The user attempts to maximize his own capacity"? Thanks a lot. |
1,687 | 14,331 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is it correct to use "their" instead of "his or her"? I, and many people I have heard, occasionally use 'they' and 'their' in the singular when gender is not known. For example, > Someone burgled our house yesterday. **They** must've cut **their** head on > the broken window, because there is blood there. I would like to know: * Is this incorrect or not used in some places? * If not, I have read, such as in style books, the awkwardness of not assuming certain people are a 'he' or 'she' and using 'his' and 'hers' with them respectively, thereby having to say 'the reader... he/she should...his/her'. Why don't they simply use 'they' and 'their'? * Is this a recent development in English? * Is this type of usage present in other languages (pronouns for both genders)? |
1,688 | 56,567 | 76823_0 | I would like to treat a user as a non-gender noun and refer to it with the gender-neutral pronoun, _it_. E.g., > **The user** defines two variables, x and y. **It** then multiplies each > variable by a prime number. However, on Wikipedia I found this: > The word "it", however, has an extremely impersonal connotation, even > offensive, in common usage and is rarely used in English to refer to an > unspecified human being or person of unknown gender. This is because the > word "it" connotes that the person being specified is inferior to a person > or is an object. Is to appropriate to refer to a person of unknown sex as _it_? Should I rephrase my sentence as follows: > **The user** defines two variables, x and y. **The user** then multiplies > each variable by a prime number. |
1,689 | 180,209 | 76823_0 | I am not a native speaker and I find the following sentence pretty confusing. > Ask any doctor — they'll all tell you that alcohol is a poison. Here the speaker is referring to any doctor. Why is _they_ used instead of _he/her_? Or to put it in other words shouldn't the correct form of the sentence be as follows? > Ask any doctor — he/she'll all tell you that alcohol is a poison.` |
1,690 | 26,721 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Is it correct to use "their" instead of "his or her"? Plural versus singular: > Anyone can learn to dance if **they** want to. > > Anyone can learn to dance if **he or she** wants to. Resources online tell me that anyone is a singular indefinite pronoun. Then why is it sometimes acceptable to use the plural 'they' with 'anyone' in some cases? Does it substitute and replace 'he/she'? note: this previous posts also says anyone is [singular]: "Anyone has" or "anyone have" seen them? |
1,691 | 57,784 | 76823_0 | Can we use "I can't come right now, I need to take a shower" if we are informing a friend? Or should it be "I can't come right now, I will need to take a shower"? |
1,692 | 190,214 | 76823_0 | None of the days in March are the days that I **would have** gone to office,but for being on annual leave. |
1,693 | 142,924 | 76823_0 | As I understand, the word Fascism must be capitalised, while the adjective fascist should not. But what if "Fascist" is used as a noun? Eg: "The headmaster was enlisted in the National Fascist Party and therefore he was a Fascist" Thanks for the help. |
1,694 | 142,921 | 76823_0 | Revelation 8:1-2 (of the Bible) says the following (KJV): > And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about > the space of half an hour. > And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given > seven trumpets. I want a concise way to refer to these seven trumpets. Options I have considered include: * the seven trumpets of Revelation * the seven trumpet blasts of Revelation (or substitute "the Apocalypse" for "Revelation" in either case). **Is any of these phrases the most common collocation for describing the event mentioned in Revelation 8:1-2; if so, which one; and if not, what is?** If it matters, assume some variety of British English or General American English, as suits you. Note: for my use case, the collocation must include a reference to both an instrument being blown and an allusion to Christian eschatology. Other aspects (e.g. the number of instruments; the specific name of the instrument; etc.) are negotiable. |
1,695 | 142,922 | 76823_0 | I typically think of words like "bittersweet" or "sandstorm" when I think of compound words. But words like "otherwise" or "maybe" also have two other complete words inside of them; are they also considered compound words? The reason I ask is because most of the stereotypical examples directly relate to the meanings of each part. "Otherwise" doesn't really seem to relate to _both_ "other" and "wise". |
1,696 | 55,873 | 76823_0 | So, I’ve stumbled upon this really long sentence, and now I’m wondering if it is grammatically correct. > So they figured since I’m a real person and I’m in the movie and I’m > actually me and they wanted to use me as me in the actual movie and I didn’t > even know yet that I was me in the movie although I did know I was me but I > didn’t know I was in the movie, they had better let me know that I was in > the movie as me and let me see if after I knew I was me playing me in the > movie that I would be okay with being me in the movie as myself now that I > knew there was actually a movie with me in it.¹ (I’ve counted 19 simple sentences.) |
1,697 | 56,786 | 76823_0 | When asked whether he recognized equal rights of atheists, George H. W. Bush said1: > No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should > they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God. I would understand if he had used another verb: > No, I don't think/believe that atheists should be considered... I would also understand if he had chosen another conjunction: > No, I don't know if atheists should be considered... Is the original quoted sentence grammatically correct? Is it common to use **know** in the sense of **think**? Or is this some dialect-specific meaning? Could you please give some more examples of this usage of **know**? 1 Wikipedia source |
1,698 | 25,716 | 76823_0 | When used as an expletive, the name _Jesus Christ_ often gets an _H_ inserted into the middle of it for some reason. I've heard lots of guesses about what the H stands for, the most popular one being _Henry_ , but no one seems to actually know, and I've never gotten any good explanation of where it came from or why it became popular to insert it. * Is there any documentation of when _Jesus H. Christ_ as opposed to simply _Jesus Christ_ came into currency as an expletive? * Is there any authoritative explanation of what, if anything, the H was originally supposed to stand for? |
1,699 | 25,711 | 76823_0 | Is there a different word, a synonym or neologism for "Rhyming Dictionary"? I mean something like Rhyming + thesaurus? |
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