Sunday, March 13, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

American vs British English: using 3rd person singular pronoun or person's name?

Posted: 13 Mar 2022 12:58 AM PST

I grew up in the UK and now have a lot of American friends and colleagues; I tend to notice an almost systematic difference in the way Americans use 3rd person singular pronouns in preference to a person's name in conversation. This is especially noticeable and seemingly impolitely to my British ear when the third person is present in the conversation. I'm not sure how to articulate the specific instances when this occurs, other than that when I was growing up, this is exactly the situation that my elders would say "Who's 'she'? The cat's mother?!" to correct me.

Who's 'she', the cat's mother?

e.g.

A: "She's coming on the trip with us too!"

B: "Who's 'she' - the cat's mother?"

A: "Sorry, gran is coming with us too."

Interestingly, the Americans I've met generally seem to be completely unperturbed by this, whether speaking, or hearing themselves referred to in this way. It seems completely natural for Americans to do this.

I would like to know if anyone can articulate/describe the specific instances when this (un)contentious switch between 3rd person pronoun and names occurs? And at what point or why this divergence between American and British English occurred?

Thanks

Generalization or definition of the word "from" when used in "I returned to the city from having travelled the world"

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 11:06 PM PST

I contrived this sentence, but had a hard time explaining how to construct sentences of similar nature, the sentence being

He returned to the city from having travelled the world

Meaning, "[someone] has come back to the city; after the task [traveling the world] has completed"

I'm curious to know if this usage falls under a definition of from, or if it's incorrect grammar altogether.

My gut feeling was to define this phrase as the following:

[action] from having [prior action]

To mean

[action] after [prior action] has completed in its entirety

However, I'm a bit confused on if there are constraints between the [action] and [prior action] (for example, if the two must be related in some way).

Some additional example sentences

  1. I ran outside from having been trapped indoors all day
  2. I am running outside from having been trapped indoors all day
  3. I will run outside from having been trapped indoors all day
  4. I ran outside from having eaten an apple
  5. I am running outside from having eaten an apple
  6. I will run outside from having eaten an apple

#1 sounds natural to me, 2 sounds somewhat awkward but acceptable, and 3 sounding fairly ridiculous (but acceptable).
The same is mirrored for 4, 5, and 6; however, would require additional context (ie. maybe the Apple was preventing me from being able to open the door).

Additional thoughts and resources are highly appreciated! -- Thanks in advance.

Comma before 'if' in maths definition

Posted: 13 Mar 2022 03:07 AM PDT

I wonder if there is clear guidance about the following construction:

We say that a foo admits a bar, if baz is quz.

I feel that the comma before if breaks the structure of the sentence, and introduces some ambiguity (is the if introducing an independent clause?).

I would very much appreciate pointers to the appropriate sections of a manual of style.

Where, if anywhere, do commas belong in a "not only... but" sentence in which the "but" clause appears in mid-sentence?

Posted: 13 Mar 2022 12:47 AM PST

I tried to find this rule explicitly on several grammar sites, but did not find it.

A "not only" sentence does not normally need a comma as the "not only" and "but also" are correlative pairs. So "Not only does he like cheddar cheese but also mozzarella" does not need a comma.

My question is what happens if the "but also" clause is in the middle of the sentence, such as:

Not only cheddar cheese but also mozzarella cheese is really good on Triscuits.

Should there be a comma after "cheddar cheese" like so

Not only cheddar cheese, but also mozzarella cheese is really good on Triscuits

or maybe also after "mozzarella cheese" like so

Not only cheddar cheese, but also mozzarella cheese, is really good on Triscuits.

I'm not sure which way seems to leave either clause less incomplete.

"Table of Contents" vs. "Table of Content"

Posted: 13 Mar 2022 12:37 AM PST

If I ask an English speaker to spell out TOC, I would expect it to be "Table of Contents" with an 's'.

But I not much but sometimes do see "Table of Content" without an 's' in some books. Is this simply a matter or choice? or are there any other reason or special meaning for using the singular form?
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