Many a man ?

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crazYgeeK

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Joined
Jun 9, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
Hi,
Can "many a man" refer to both male and female people ?
Are there expressions like "many a woman", "many a boy", "many a girl", "many a house"...?
I have the sentence "Many a man has lost his life in the attempt".
Can I replace "Many a man has" by "Many people have" without changing the meaning ?
Why can we use "his" here ?
Maybe I doesn't express my questions well.
Please!
Thank you very much !
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
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Jun 20, 2010
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Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Hi,
Can "many a man" refer to both male and female people ? No.
Are there expressions like "many a woman", "many a boy", "many a girl", "many a house"...? Yes.
I have the sentence "Many a man has lost his life in the attempt".
Can I replace "Many a man has" by "Many people have" without changing the meaning ? Yes, but you have to continue '...lost their lives...'
Thank you very much !

Rover
 

shoaib 1

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Hi,
Can "many a man" refer to both male and female people ?
Are there expressions like "many a woman", "many a boy", "many a girl", "many a house"...?
I have the sentence "Many a man has lost his life in the attempt".
Can I replace "Many a man has" by "Many people have" without changing the meaning ?
Why can we use "his" here ?
Maybe I doesn't express my questions well.
Please!
Thank you very much !
Yes, all these expressions do exist.'Many a' may be called a phrase in which the last word 'a' is defining.So it takes a singular verb and possessive. 'Many', 'a many' and 'a great many' are the expressions which take plural verb and possessive.
Yes, you can change 'many a man has' to 'many men have' without changing the meaning
 
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