coherence in person

[5jj]

#21 it is. ;-)

 

[ohmyrichard]

Because most of us don't say "My names are XXX XXX". We say "My name is ...". So each person will write their name. This does not mean that they should simply write one name.

Your reasoning is great, but does it mean "Those who want to join the chorus should write their/your names on this sheet of paper." cannot be used in this same situation?

 

[ohmyrichard]

This is the 19th post in this thread. :shock:

I have to say that, in my opinion, most native speakers would not notice whether someone said 'your' or 'their' , or 'name' or 'names'.

Yes, I agree with you and know that most of you native speakers do not and do not need to care so much about whether someone said "your" or "their", or "name" or "names", for whichever is used in this situation, the job will be done and in real life there will be no controversy among those involved although semantically there is ambiguity in some versions of the sentence. Anyway, language is not logic and ambiguity happens very often in real life language use but our human reasoning power will always help us figure out the speaker's real intention.

Then why do I care so much about this language issue? The reason is that over here I am in a rather different English language learning environment. Some so-called English language experts here in China would often say a certain expression or structure is the only correct expression or structure for an idea when actually there are alternatives, which they do not know at all. And I have also found that it also often happens that some expression or structure they say is wrong actually is 100 % correct and is used by (some/all of) you native speakers; the language issue right under discussion is a good example. It is my determination not to follow in those Chinese "English language experts"' footsteps; if possible, I always want to know as much about a certain English language issue as possible and then explain it thoroughly to my students in or after class. It is for this very reason that I am seeking help from you guys with this language issue. Therefore, you may now have realized that I am not making a big fuss about something trivial if you take my perspective at this asking; this language issue is of great importance to me and my students, and I want to teach myself and my students how to learn English in a more effectively and better way.

My thanks go to you and all the others who have replied to my questions.

 

[Tdol]

Your reasoning is great, but does it mean "Those who want to join the chorus should write their/your names on this sheet of paper." cannot be used in this same situation?

With your, the singular sounds better to me, but they both sound OK with their.

 

[ohmyrichard]

With your, the singular sounds better to me, but they both sound OK with their.

Hi, Tdol. Thanks for your response.
Anyway, to be frank, the part of your explanation of "but they both sound OK with their" seems to me to be in conflict with Post # 13 and Post # 16 by emsr2d2.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi, Tdol. Thanks for your response.
Anyway, the part of your explanation of "but they both sound OK with their" seems to me to be in conflict wity Post # 13 and Post # 16 by

Did you forget to finish this post?

 

[5jj]

Native speakers have different opinions on this. I think that my opinion (post #2) is the best, but then I would.

I understand your reasons for your questions (post #23), but this is one case where you will not get complete agreement among native speakers

 

[emsr2d2]

I stick by the contents of all four of my posts in this thread. I think we can safely say that there is no simple answer to this question.

 

[ohmyrichard]

Did you forget to finish this post?

I did not remember your username when I was nearly finished with my post, so I first uploaded the incomplete post in case it would get lost and then I went to page 2 to retrieve your username and then came back with it to make the post finished. I feared that I would sound offensive if I misspelt your username. Sorry for the incomplete post!

 

[ohmyrichard]

Native speakers have different opinions on this. I think that my opinion (post #2) is the best, but then I would.

I understand your reasons for your questions (post #23), but this is one case where you will not get complete agreement among native speakers

Thank you and all the others for patiently answering my questions. I reread your post#2 and I like it. And I also like your conclusion that "this is one case where you will not get complete agreement among native speakers." BTW, may I ask you a question, which may be the last in this thread, about your "but then I would"? Do you mean by "but then I would" that you, at the time of writing post #2, as you do now, also thought that your opinion is the best? Is it because "I thought" means that "I" now have a different idea that you instead used "I would (think so)"? Thanks a lot.

 

[5jj]

Do you mean by "but then I would" that you, at the time of writing post #2, as you do now, also thought that your opinion is the best? Is it because "I thought" means that "I" now have a different idea that you instead used "I would (think so)"? Thanks a lot.

No. It was a slightly jocular way of saying, "That's what I would be expected to say". There is a suggestion that you don't have to take my claim (of my opinion being the best) too seriously.

This type of expression can sometimes suggest disbelief. A well known example, in the 1960s,
was this one.

 

[emsr2d2]

"but then I would" refers to 5jj thinking that his own post was the best one! It is likely that most people will believe that their post is the best.

I think my post is the best, but then I would think that, wouldn't I?!