In a photo caption, if we use the elliptical 'My kids and me', would 'me' be correct, or would 'I' be correct? It seems as though it could go both ways.
[This is a picture of] 'My kids and me' or 'Me and the kids'.
Or,
'My kids and I' [are in this picture]
Which is the correct choice -- 'me' or 'I' in these elliptical constructions?
Thank you
I am trying to explain to non-native speakers how to use "almost." I can't formulate (a) rule(s) to follow with regard to nouns/pronouns. So far, my only ideas are that almost can be collocated only with words (or in situations) that describe measurement or comparison. However, even this seems to fail.
For example:
almost they = incorrect (no concept of measurement or comparison)
almost everyone = correct (measurement of individuals)
A platypus is almost a duck. = correct (comparison)
They are almost the same. = correct (comparison)
It is almost midnight. = correct (measurement of time vs. temporal adverbial)
We are almost there. = correct (but spatial adverbial)
However:
He wrote almost a book. = incorrect, although in this case "book" would be a comparison or perhaps a measurement of the written material
I am pretty much at a loss. Thanks.
“It doesn’t have to be a huge event to make a difference, Jones said. “Any kind of activity-related event that can include a fundraising component can be directed toward charity.”
Words like "sky" and "money" have "ies" as a plural suffix (i.e. "skies" and "monies") but other words like "monkey" and "Emmy" do not ("monkeys" and "Emmys"). Is there a rule dictating the use of "ies"?
Answer
It's determined by the letter before the y:
monkey: vowel + y => monkeys
sky: consonant + y => skies
Exception: proper nouns like "Emmy" sometimes form the plural by adding "s".
Monies I don't know about, so hopefully someone else can fill in that detail.
I've read today a comment from a UK user that sounded weird to me:
so the OP is shooting themselves in the foot here with the tone then.
I would have said instead:
so the OP is shooting himself in the foot here with the tone then.
I've taken a look at this but it's way out of my league, and appearently doesn't even answer this question.
Why did he use the third person plural while referring to a third person singular ?
Answer
In English, "they" is used as a singular personal pronoun when the gender of the subject is not known.
As gender politics have evolved over the past half-century, and the pace of that change has accelerated in the last decade, personal pronouns have proven fraught with risk and created traps for the unwary.
In response to this, commentors have increasingly started using the non-committal -- and more importantly, safe -- singular they to refer to people whose gender is not known with absolute certainty.
Please note that I'm using the word "gender", not "sex", here quite advisedly; sex is biological, gender is psychological (or, in another school of thought, sociological). This (rather new) distinction is yet another driver behind the recent popularity of singular they: even if a person's sex is quite evident (or you believe it is), their gender may not be (e.g. a person who looks like a man may nevertheless wish to be identified as a woman), and using the wrong personal pronoun can land you in a lot of hot water.
In your particular situation, circumstances which may have contributed to the commentor's circumspection are that your avatar depicts both a man and a young girl, and while your name is quite masculine in your homeland (and its own history as you so perspicuously pointed out), in the US, names ending in -a are considered feminine, and "Andrea" is reserved for naming girls.
What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?
- The relationship between a mother and daughter.
- The relationship between a mother and a daughter.
I know both are correct, but do they differ in meaning? If so, how? What does it mean when the article is placed before daughter?
If I was to sum up my computer knowledge in one word, it would be “destitute”.
If I were to sum up my computer knowledge in one word, it would be “destitute”.
Which is correct?