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Thread: He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

  1. #1
    on the way is offline Member
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    Default He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

    I came across a question just as mentioned in the title above,which I'm unable to work out by myself. The full context goes as follows:
    "Did you feed the baby milk?"
    "No,he can---"
    A. eat by himself B.feed for himself C. eat for himself D.feed by himself
    As far as I understand , "by oneself" can mean "alone "or "without help from outside", while "for oneself" probably mean "for your own good or benefit". In the light of that , I would prefer A. However, I'm not sure about it because C is strongly recommended by some. So here I am. Which is of A and B the only correct or more appropriate option here? Any help would be appreciated. Besides, I would be more grateful if anyone could enlighten me on the meanings of "in oneself" and "of oneself". Some seem to say they mean the same, others not exactly the same. Thank all those who have helped me out on this site. The world will not be the same without you. I really love this place! Happy every day!

  2. #2
    Chicken Sandwich's Avatar
    Chicken Sandwich is offline Senior Member
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    Default Re: He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

    NOT A TEACHER

    None of the answers make much sense to me. 'No, he can feed himself' is what I would have said in this situation.
    5jj, on the way, anhnha and 1 others like this.

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    Gillnetter is offline Senior Member
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    Default Re: He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

    Quote Originally Posted by on the way View Post
    I came across a question just as mentioned in the title above,which I'm unable to work out by myself. The full context goes as follows:
    "Did you feed the baby milk?"
    "No,he can---"
    A. eat by himself B.feed for himself C. eat for himself D.feed by himself
    As far as I understand , "by oneself" can mean "alone "or "without help from outside", while "for oneself" probably mean "for your own good or benefit". In the light of that , I would prefer A. However, I'm not sure about it because C is strongly recommended by some. So here I am. Which is of A and B the only correct or more appropriate option here? Any help would be appreciated. Besides, I would be more grateful if anyone could enlighten me on the meanings of "in oneself" and "of oneself". Some seem to say they mean the same, others not exactly the same. Thank all those who have helped me out on this site. The world will not be the same without you. I really love this place! Happy every day!
    I am most used to hearing "He can eat by himself", meaning that he has the capability to bring food to his mouth and ingest that food. The usage of "milk" in your question tends to confuse the matter a bit in that one does not eat milk, one drinks milk. I agree that you can feed milk to a baby, but the baby doesn't eat milk. My initial response was, "No, he can eat solid food". That being said, option A is the only one that makes any sense to me.
    5jj, tzfujimino, anhnha and 2 others like this.

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    on the way is offline Member
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    Default Re: He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Gillnetter View Post
    I am most used to hearing "He can eat by himself", meaning that he has the capability to bring food to his mouth and ingest that food. The usage of "milk" in your question tends to confuse the matter a bit in that one does not eat milk, one drinks milk. I agree that you can feed milk to a baby, but the baby doesn't eat milk. My initial response was, "No, he can eat solid food". That being said, option A is the only one that makes any sense to me.
    Much obliged!Thank you both for your responses.

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    Rover_KE is offline Moderator
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    Default Re: He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

    Your thanks are appreciated, on the way, but you don't need to send them in a separate post or to quote our replies back to us.

    We are all happy to accept a simple click on the Like button as your acknowledgement of our help.

    Rover


    charliedeut likes this.

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    emsr2d2's Avatar
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    Default Re: He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tdol View Post
    This should be Did you feed him/xxx....
    What's wrong with "Did you feed the baby milk?"? I'm sure some couples refer to their son or daughter as "the baby".

    Did you feed the baby?
    Did you feed the baby [his/her] milk?
    Did you feed the baby milk or juice?
    Remember - correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing make posts much easier to read.

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    Tdol is offline Editor, UsingEnglish.com
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    Default Re: He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

    Err, nothing- my bad.

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    Gillnetter is offline Senior Member
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    Default Re: He can eat "by oneself" or "for onesefl"?

    Quote Originally Posted by emsr2d2 View Post
    What's wrong with "Did you feed the baby milk?"? I'm sure some couples refer to their son or daughter as "the baby".

    Did you feed the baby?
    Did you feed the baby [his/her] milk?
    Did you feed the baby milk or juice?
    It makes sense to me, but I would expect to hear, "Did you give the baby his milk", or, "Did you feed the baby".
    on the way, 5jj and charliedeut like this.

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