1

This is from the BBC. lisa

Lisa Marie, also a singer, was rushed to hospital earlier on Thursday.

The expression "...also a singer...." in the sentence is interesting and reminded me of another usage having the same meaning.

Lisa Marie, herself a singer, was rushed to hospital earlier on Thursday.

I think it has the same function, but not absolutely sure as I am not native speaker. So I wanted to ask, are they the same in meaning.

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    BBC News [& other have the same report verbatim] re death of Lisa Marie Presley - bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64255117 …so, yes, the father was a singer too.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 15:22
  • 2
    I think the also a singer version absolutely requires that some recently-mentioned person (presumably Elvis, here) is or was a singer. But the herself a singer wouldn't necessarily sound amiss if one or more previously mentioned people simply worked in the field of music. [Janet's father was a classical composer, and her mother played violin.] Janet, herself a singer, often told people that she came from a musical family
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 16:23
  • In the context that Lisa Marie was Elvis's daughter, both effectively mean the same - 'she too was a singer' and 'she herself was a singer [like her father]'.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 16:24
  • @FumbleFingers - definitely agree on this one. There's an element of 'also ran' considering who her father & one-time husband were, vs 'dad played cello in the school orchestra as a child' opposite extreme. [This is probably not a scenario that is going to crop up a lot, ie the relative fame & overall accomplishment of her family.]
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 16:58
  • 1
    @Tetsujin: There's a potentially interesting illustration here of how much better real (spoken) language is than written texts. My "Janet" example naturally puts stress on singer, since neither parent is a singer. But if at least one parent was a singer, we'd just stress herself instead. And even if we change the word order to a singer herself, that same mechanism works unchanged. I don't think you can easily mimic that in writing!
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 18:12

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

No.

"Herself a singer" implies someone else mentioned within the context is a singer as well, or failed or had aspirations as such. As an isolated sentence it doesn't make sense to use it.

Improve this answer
6
  • The lack of article with hospital could just be British usage.
    – stangdon
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 15:06
  • @stangdon I didn't know that, but I do realize now it could be headlinese. Thank for the heads-up!
    – Joachim
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 15:11
  • 1
    @yunus In that case they have the same meaning, but you should have included that in the question :) (a source is also always good to mention).
    – Joachim
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 15:17
  • 1
    'Herself' works, but once you have context I think 'also' is far more appropriate.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 15:23
  • 2
    Yes, rushed to hospital is British usage (not just headlinese).
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 16:21

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .