How do you refer to the generic singular third-person?

by seattleniceguy 26 Replies latest jw friends

  • Hyghlandyr
    Hyghlandyr

    When 'e read this thing I are saying, what am 'e talkin about and what 'bout dem fools, what they is be sayin? Helz if me knows it is sayin to i-self.

    :D

    http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/languages/classical/latin/tchmat/grammar/whprax/w7-d3-n.html

    I are readin that and it am still confusin i. So be it lookin are now on another site. English to Irish I are. Looksie whats me am finding, definitions of it am sé or sí. This be said SHE or ..um...SHE. Bein the same as for SHE or HE...bein that SÉ be HE and SÍ be SHE but be both am said SHE. In the pronouncing and meanings is they you see? Thus in Gaeilge you be sayin SHE for SHE for HE for IT and be spellin SÍ for SHE and IT and are spellin SÉ for HE and IT. Both am or all three is said SHE.

    Thus HYGH be usin feminist SHE which really am HE and IT in all cases. And be sayin tú which be said TOO for AM/IS/ARE one word TÚ used in all cases.

    Thus I tú happy now. Tú you happy?

  • talesin
    talesin

    Hy

    ... for we are ALL GODDESS..

  • Hyghlandyr
    Hyghlandyr

    Talesin

    Mé tá fixin things afore typed. In state was I typin fast thinkin slow. So sé be that mé typed tú for tá. And tá am for are/is/am not tú which are for you.

    Tá tú sona? Mé tá sona.

  • stillajwexelder
    stillajwexelder

    "the person" will do and is reasonable grammar - who says one has to use a pronoun - or you could refer to the person as "that one"

  • talesin
    talesin

    Hy, that's good to hear. I'm working on it. ;)

    t

  • seattleniceguy
    seattleniceguy

    Unfortunately, there are times when using anything but a pronoun feels extremely stilted. Try this on for size:

    The person looked in the person's wallet and remembered that the person's friend had not returned the money as promised.

    Versus

    The person looked in his wallet and remembered that his friend had not returned the money as promised.

    When there is only a single reference to a person, naming them explicitly will work. But when they start appearing multiple times (especially in different forms - possessor, object, etc.), it ceases to sound natural.

    Incidentally, Japanese doesn't have this problem because of several interesting characteristics:

    • Subjects and objects are not specified when they are easily understood by context. (The English words "he" and "she" are really just placeholders for a subject that we expect our listener to know.)
    • The construction "that person" is frequently used and natural.
    • Possessors who have previously been named can be deleted. ("The man looked into his wallet" becomes "The man looked into wallet." Which wallet? The default understanding would be his own. You would need be more explicit to mean something else.)

    SNG

  • hamsterbait
    hamsterbait

    Their or They was widely used in 17th c England. Many civic documents use it. It was Victorian grammarians seeking to codify the language in line with latin who brought in the form so popular in the WT, along with "It is I" (not "it's me")

    Even Shakespeare used it ( but i'm too tired to find the quote)

    German has preserved the form in the 'Ihr' part of verbal declension.

    HB

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