Fun Stuff > CHATTER
English is weird
Method of Madness:
That reminds me. They/them as a gender neutral is easy enough, but is "themself" a generally accepted thing?
pwhodges:
I've come across it - and also the singular genderless use of "themselves". Although I find it uncomfortable even now, I force myself to use "themself" (in distinct preference to singular "themselves") in the expectation that it will become natural in due course (which for me might not be before I die ;) ). If I can use it a couple of times in quick succession, the second already feels more natural.
pwhodges:
--- Quote from: Morituri on 04 Feb 2017, 22:45 ---Last night I discovered that my wife had never noticed that English male and female pronouns are not in fact dual.
--- End quote ---
That's a misinterpretation, because there are more forms to consider than you are looking at - four (and more) each for singular male, singular female, and plural; and in any declension there may be multiple forms the same, but not always corresponding ones. So, note that in the plural all four are different, and in the singular two are the same, but a different pair depending on gender:
* Nominative: He She They
* Accusative: Him Her Them
* Possessive adjective: His Her Their
* Possessive pronoun: His Hers TheirsHere are sample sentences showing all the options:
* He has a camera. The camera belongs to him. It is his camera. The camera is his.
* She has a diamond ring. The diamond ring belongs to her. It is her diamond ring. The diamond ring is hers.
* They have a tea garden. The tea garden belongs to them. It is their tea garden. The tea garden is theirs.
Morituri:
Right. However, I was only concerned with three forms because the nominative case is in fact dual. Straight replacements will convert it correctly.
But 'her' is both accusative and possessive adjective, while 'him' is accusative only. Conversely 'his' is both possessive adjective and possessive pronoun, while 'hers' is possessive-pronoun only.
You can regard them as separate words that are pronounced and spelt exactly the same, but that seems facetious to me.
pwhodges:
They probably came about that way, though. Chance euphony during a pronunciation shift, or something (I know little about the aspect of English).
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