Re: Rule about not using possessive? (Take III, and out)

Subject: Re: Rule about not using possessive? (Take III, and out)
From: Joe Sokohl <joe -dot- sokohl -at- iconmedialab -dot- de>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 10:14:39 +0200

Richard Combs wrote:

Now, mind you, I can imagine the language evolving to the point where we no
longer distinguish between singular and plural verb forms. However, _until
that happens_, subject-verb agreement is *not* just a matter of style and is
*not* subject to majority vote.

"It's my opinion and it's very true."
Richard

end quote
------

To respectfully disagree, I submit the following excerpt from Steven
Pinker's great book, "The Language Instinct." I also recommend everyone
devour this book, for he explodes so many myths that have circulated in our
area for far too many years. Too many of our prescriptive rules are really
vestiges of style handbook competititveness of the 18th Century: "Most of
the hobgoblins of contemporary prescriptive grammar (don't split
infinitives, don't end a sentence with a preposition) can be traced back to
these 18th Century fads."

PINKER QUOTE STARTS:
Sometimes an alleged grammatical "error" is logical not only in the sense
of "rational," but in the sense of respecting distinctions made by the
logician. Consider this alleged barbarism:
Everyone returned to their seats.
If anyone calls, tell them I can't come to the phone.
No one should have to sell their home to pay for medical care.
The mavens explain: [everyone] means [every one], a singular subject, which
may not serve as the antecedent of a plural pronoun like [them] later
in the sentence. "Everyone returned to [his] seat," they insist. "If
anyone calls, tell [him] I can't come to the phone."

If you were the target of these lessons, you might be getting a
bit uncomfortable. [Everyone returned to his seat] makes it sound like
Bruce Springsteen was discovered during intermission to be in the
audience, and everyone rushed back and converged on his seat to await an
autograph. If there is a good chance that a caller may be female, it is odd
to ask one's roommate to tell [him] anything (even if you are not
among the people who get upset about "sexist language"). Such feelings of
disquiet -- a red flag to any serious linguist -- are well-founded.
The logical point that everyone but the language mavens intuitively grasps
is that [everyone] and [they] are not an antecedent and a pronoun
referring to the same person in the world, which would force them to agree
in number. They are a "quantifier" and a "bound variable," a different
logical relationship. [Everyone returned to their seats] means "For all X, X
returned to X's seat." The "X" is simply a placeholder that keeps track
of the roles that players play across different relationships: the X that
comes back to a seat is the same X that owns the seat that X comes back
to. The [their] there does not, in fact, have plural number, because it
refers neither to one thing nor to many things; it does not refer at all.
On logical grounds, then, variables are not the same thing as the
more familiar "referential" pronouns that trigger agreement ([he] meaning
to some particular guy, [they] meaning some particular bunch of
guys). Some languages are considerate and offer their speakers different
words for referential pronouns and for variables. But English is stingy; a
referential pronoun must be drafted into service to lend its name when a
speaker needs to use a variable. There is no reason that the vernacular
decision to borrow [they, their, them] for the task is any worse than the
prescriptivists' recommendation of [he, him, his]. Indeed, [they] has the
advantage of embracing both sexes and feeling right in a wider variety of
sentences.
END
SOURCE: http://www.mit.edu/~pinker/tnr.html

joe
Joe Sokohl
Human-Computer Interaction
Icon Medialab
Gasstrasse 4
22761 Hamburg Germany
Tel: +49 (0)40 8979 8403
Cell: +49 (0)163 334 8230
Fax: +49 (0)40 8979 8989
email: joe -dot- sokohl -at- iconmedialab -dot- com
"People Propose, Science Studies, Technology Conforms" ....Don Norman
-----------------------------------
Personal Web Stuff:
http://www.cafepress.com/hcistuff
http://jsokohl.blogspot.com/


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com


---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Previous by Author: RE: Speaking the SME's Language (was: Jumpstart a programming-- a bi lity [-why?]) (PLUS the Wrath of Khan thang)
Next by Author: RE: Converting to PDF
Previous by Thread: Re: Rule about not using possessive? (Take III, and out)
Next by Thread: Damnit Jim, I'm a Writer, not a Programmer II: The Wrath of Kahn


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads