{"id":89,"date":"2014-03-15T10:17:08","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T23:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/?p=89"},"modified":"2016-11-21T10:18:14","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T23:18:14","slug":"subject-pronouns-and-inanimate-objects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/journal\/notes\/subject-pronouns-and-inanimate-objects\/","title":{"rendered":"Subject pronouns and inanimate objects"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the English language, subject pronouns, namely he<\/em> and she<\/em>, are mostly reserved for the use of describing humans.<\/p>\n

\n My friend Susan told me to wait for her outside the ticket office.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tom was angry that he was not invited to the party.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, it has become a common tradition to also use them for pets. And why not? We give them a name, after all, and they\u2019re sometimes more interesting than humans anyway…! Ahem. For example:<\/p>\n

\n Thomas’ Dalmatian puppy came bounding across the lawn with her favourite toy in her mouth.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Crookshanks doesn\u2019t do anything but clean his fur and sleep all day!\u2019 Hermione complained.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unlike many European languages, English does not apply the subject pronouns he<\/em> or she<\/em> when writing about inanimate objects. We generally just use it<\/em> to describe the table, the television or the book.<\/p>\n

\n I went over to the table and began to clear it for dinner.<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul closed the book and threw it down on the bed.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, it has become a tradition to give beloved inanimate objects, such as the car, a musical instrument or a weapon the gender-specific he<\/em> or she<\/em>. For example:<\/p>\n

\n \u2018Look at her,\u2019 Simon said, looking at his new car with misty eyes. \u2018Isn\u2019t she stunning?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Ian took hold of his guitar and gave her a powerful strum.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is also common practise to refer to countries or ships using subject pronouns, such as:<\/p>\n

\n For all her faults, we love her still, Britannia rules the wave!<\/em><\/p>\n

The ship\u2019s masts towered over the other vessels docked at the wharf. She was the largest thing the boy had ever seen.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quick look at subject pronouns and their usage with inanimate objects. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}