Questions tagged [animacy]
The animacy tag has no usage guidance.
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"We are certainly not what you would call close friends." — If "what" refers to "we", then we must use "who" instead. Why is "what" correct here?
thefreedictionary.com:
(1) We are only acquainted with each other. We are certainly not what you would call close friends.
As far as I understand, the word "what" refers to people here, not ...
- 5,371
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"He is the President / a doctor / a driver." — How to define whether "the President / a doctor / a driver" is something or someone?
My question (from comments under one of ell.stackexchange.com's answers):
If we have the following sentence:
(1) "He is the President / a doctor / a driver."
Then, is "the President a ...
- 5,371
2
votes
2
answers
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The Double Genitive with Animals?
Can I use the double possessive below as I would in, say, the phrase a friend of Bob’s?
a bone of my dog’s
a toy of my dog’s
Are the phrases above, however awkward, still grammatical? Never mind ...
Jmarlowe
0
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3
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"You will be the President himself." — The noun "President" is not someone but something. Then why is "itself" not used instead of "himself"?
the textbook "the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language", page 1497 (the link):
(1) You will be the President himself.
Am I right that "himself" means the gender of the subject ...
- 5,371
14
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2
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Who or what? Questions about animate beings
Which of the words should I choose when I ask about the meaning of a word that I don't know exactly but I know that the word I am asking about is an animate being?
What/who is a king?
What/who ...
- 2,850
2
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1
answer
77
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Can we use "that", "those", in a derogative way
Do you have examples of uses of "that" "those", etc... in a derogative way.
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its or his in this context? [duplicate]
Which one is correct:
A child born today
inherits a world vastly different from that of its parent’s generation.
A child born today
inherits a world vastly different from that of his parent’s ...
- 243
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"What on earth made/had you do that"
When are we suppose to use "made" and "had" in a sentence?
I know that have is a causative which means 'make'. For example:
He had me wait for five minutes at the shop.
So in the same way can ...
- 563
11
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4
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Is referring to people as "it" considered rude?
In Japanese, referring to people as "it" considered rude. Instead of "it", We say "that person" or information of the person (ex. a person who wares a blue shirt).
In English, Is referring to people ...
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Can 'it' be used to refer to a person?
I read a dialogue. It went like this:
A: Is this your family？
B: Yes, it is.
A: What a big family! Is this your sister?
B: Yes, it is. Her name is Linda. (I think this should be "Yes, she is")
A: ...
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3
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Play-doh and they
You have five colorful balls of Play-doh. Would the pronoun "them" or "they" be correct?
Collect all the doh and put "them" in their containers.
Did you roll "them" into balls by yourself?
Their ...
- 2,328