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+---- Thread: Grammar Problems (/showthread.php?tid=1423)
Re: Grammar Problems - Isatis - 02-04-2012
Awesome!
(sorry 'merican i'm now an England lover UK UK UK!)
time for another question typical from a French dude :
As a French speaking guy, I'm always tempted to give gender to thing and object. Like if I want to say '' I'm going to push that flag away '' I do it this way : '' I'm going to push him away ''
BUT
The RULES tend to say that I should say '' I'm going to push it away. ''
I'm pretty sure the it is the way, but why? And can I say him or will it alarm your English Common sense?
thanks!
Re: Grammar Problems - Kwal - 02-04-2012
It's about the gender of a noun. It's different with a lot of languages where even objects are male or female (such as French or Dutch), but in English it's very simple really. Nouns that refer to a female (queen, bitch) should be referred to with 'her' while words that refer to a male (stallion, actor) require 'his'. Nouns that are about a group or an object require 'it'. There is an exception: nouns that are associated with violence or power (sun, death) are also male.
I think you're pretty much safe if you referred to a flag with 'him', but since it has no gender you should say 'it'
Re: Grammar Problems - Tarimoth - 02-04-2012
SS?
Calm down people.
Gawds.
Re: Grammar Problems - Sparhawk - 02-04-2012
Exactly what is "SS"?
Re: Grammar Problems - Talgion Cheeseliker - 02-04-2012
(02-04-2012, 09:03 PM)Sparhawk link Wrote: Exactly what is "SS"?
Well, if we're talking about Hitler's secret police, the full term is "Schutzstaffel."
Anything other than that, I have no idea.
Re: Grammar Problems - Kwal - 02-04-2012
(27-03-2012, 12:36 PM)Hypernoma link Wrote: A few relics from English class proving that punctuation can be rather important!
Woman without her man is nothing.
Woman: without her, man is nothing.
Woman, without her man, is nothing.
![[Image: Punctuation-saves-lives.jpg]](https://www.vappingo.com/word-blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Punctuation-saves-lives.jpg)
I really can't spot a difference in meaning between the first and the third sentences
Re: Grammar Problems - clickeverywhere - 02-04-2012
(02-04-2012, 09:03 PM)Sparhawk link Wrote: Exactly what is "SS"?
Clearly referring to Stormshield.
I also can't spot the difference between the first and third one :/ The first one just seems to be more difficult to parse, while the meaning of the third sentence is immediately clear.
Re: Grammar Problems - Hypernoma - 03-04-2012
The first is nonsensical and simply meant as an example pre-punctuation. Apologies for the confusion!
Re: Grammar Problems - Kwal - 03-04-2012
It really hurts your brain when you try to spot a nonexistant connection
Re: Grammar Problems - Sparhawk - 03-04-2012
I thought I saw smoke from something... Must have been you.