I know of at least one language (German, although it’s considered old-fashioned nowadays) where it’s possible to combine demonstrative and possessive pronoun: Diese deine Worte sind wahr. These your words are true. I’ve never seen a construct like this in English. Is it even possible? Answer Rally Round the Flag When an English sailor, one … Read more
Is the following sentence grammatically correct: “Neither Jake nor Janet brought his or her homework to class.” I understand that it has recently become acceptable to use a singular they for ambiguous gender, but in this situation we can assume Jake is male and Janet is female. Is the sentence formally and grammatically correct as … Read more
I’ve sometimes seen people use this so I was wondering if it is actually correct grammar or not. Couldn’t find anything saying that this is correct nor anything saying that this is wrong online. What I’m talking about is people saying e.g. "John his car" or "Apple their product designer" instead of "John’s car" or … Read more
I often hear people say something like For whose benefit is that? Should it not be For whomse benefit is that Who -> Whom Whose -> Whomse I know “whomse” is not a real word. My question is: why doesn’t it exist? Answer The easiest way to think about this is to compare to he … Read more
I was wondering which of the following phrases are correct? “without their having to learn” or “without them having to learn”? Any help is highly appreciated. Answer Where a gerund-participle clause is complement to a preposition, both genitive and non-genitive subjects are possible: I have no objections to [their/them taking notes]. She insisted on [my/me … Read more
Which one is correct? “You’re in the same situation as me” or “You’re in the same situation as mine” Example : My sister always annoys me, although I tell my parents to stop her, she keeps doing it. You’re in the same situation as me / mine Answer Since mine is a possessive, it would … Read more
It seems that in some cases s is not used after possessive nouns, for example, you would not say Fuel’s price went up instead you would say Fuel price went up. However, the sentence This car’s price is too high sounds okay with using the ending s. Can someone please explain the examples I provided … Read more
I was sitting on a couch between the wife and the husband of an old married couple (native English Londoners) and they were showing me pictures of their kids. They kept using phrases like here is my son during his holiday my daughter is the first person from the right It took me some time … Read more
Is it yours? vs It is yours? Can #2 ever be appropriate? Does it exist to facilitate placing emphasis on the personal pronoun? Answer The first form, with inversion, is the ‘canonical’ form for questions. The second form, with no inversion, is typical of “echoic” questions, which repeat the substance of a previous speaker’s assertion … Read more
We are making a piece of software that lists some kind of objects. An object may belong to a user (be ‘private’) or it may be made ‘public’. The list is quite large, therefore in the list form there’s a filter panel. One of the controls on that panel is the ‘Privacy’ drop-down box with … Read more
