"He" speaking about a dog

[milan2003_07]

Dear friends,

The sentence is from the English File Student's Book by Christina Latham-Koenig, Clive Oxenden, and Jerry Lambert.

"My dog's not dangerous. He _____ (not bite)"

I know that the correct form is "doesn't bite" because we're speaking about a general action. But I was wondering why they have used "he" about a dog? As far as I know, it's not possible even if we're speaking about a particular dog.

My opinion is that the sentence should be "My dog's not dangerous. It doesn't bite".

I'm a little perplexed because "he" is written in an English-teaching book....

 

[dunchee]

Longman Dictionary

he | meaning of he in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE

he meaning, definition, what is he: used to refer to a man, boy, or male ani...: Learn more.

www.ldoceonline.com

he ... pronoun ...
1 used to refer to a man, boy, or male animal ...

 

[emsr2d2]

Only refer to animal, especially a pet, as "it" if you don't know what sex it is.

 

[Skrej]

As far as I know, it's not possible even if we're speaking about a particular dog.

I'm not sure where you got that notion. People typically do refer to animals by their gender if said gender is known.

If that surprises you, it will blow your mind when you find out that people often refer to certain machines and vehicles as 'she'.

 

[Tarheel]

We had a cat that lived with us for 20 years. I don't think I referred to him as "it" even once.

 

[milan2003_07]

I'm not sure where you got that notion. People typically do refer to animals by their gender if said gender is known.

If that surprises you, it will blow your mind when you find out that people often refer to certain machines and vehicles as 'she'.

OK, thanks for the reply! I will remember that. I don't remember where exactly I learnt that spurious rule, but I read it some where. People there claimed that animals always required 'it'. I see now I might have misinterpreted the rule I read there.

From now on I will use 'he' and 'she' when speaking about male and female animals, respectively.

 

[milan2003_07]

If that surprises you, it will blow your mind when you find out that people often refer to certain machines and vehicles as 'she'.

Could you please provide some examples with machines and vehicles?

 

[milan2003_07]

We had a cat that lived with us for 20 years. I don't think I referred to him as "it" even once.

Thanks for sharing this It's always very sad when animals leave us. My brother had a cat, it was a 'she', who lived with us 15 years and died in 2014. I loved her very much and every time I came to my brother (he lives in the suburb of Moscow) I would experience great joy and happiness when I saw her. Her name was Marfutka. She was often playing with us and hunting insects flying into the room. She was a bit fastidious regarding food, but we would often feed her with what she really liked eating: chicken, eggs, cucumbers, sometimes meat.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Could you please provide some examples with machines and vehicles?

Read definition #4 below:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/she

 

[PeterCW]

Could you please provide some examples with machines and vehicles?

Ships are conventionally referred to as "she". A large enough minority give a gender to their own motor vehicles to warrant the dictionary definition referred to in the post above.

 

[Skrej]

Could you please provide some examples with machines and vehicles?

As Peter mentioned, ships have always traditionally been referred to as female. There aren't any rules about it though -I've heard automobiles, tractors, trains, CNC machines, excavators, computers and even firearms referred to as 'her' or 'girl'. Less commonly, you'll hear them addressed as male (aside from ships).

It's really up to the speaker's discretion, and some people do it more than others. I personally do this quite a bit, and have even been known to have one-sided conversations with mechanical devices as I beg, plead, threaten, curse, flatter, compliment, insult or otherwise cajole them into working.

 

[Matthew Wai]

People there claimed that animals always required 'it'.

The pronoun "it" sounds impersonal when the gender is known.

 

[emsr2d2]

The pronoun "it" sounds impersonal when the gender is known.

It is. With people, we can use "they" when the gender is unknown.

 

[jutfrank]

As has been mentioned, boats, cars, machines generally, weapons, are all typically gendered as feminine. It's also common historically to personify countries as female.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I read it some where.

The adverb "somewhere" is one word. See below:

somewhere | meaning of somewhere in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE

somewhere meaning, definition, what is somewhere: in or to a place, but you do not say or ...: Learn more.

www.ldoceonline.com

 

[BobK]

In addition to what has already been said (in general, give the sex of an animal if it's known) there are times when it's not possible not to know: no one could ever refer to a lioness as 'it'.

 

[Bambook]

We had a cat that lived with us for 20 years. I don't think I referred to him as "it" even once.

Please explain what grammar structure does "that" belong to in your sentence. (and how it works here). I would use "who" instead of "that".

 

[Piscean]

It's a relative pronoun, an acceptable alternative to 'who' in that sentence.

 

[Tarheel]

Please explain what grammar structure does "that" belong to in your sentence. (and how it works here). I would use "who" instead of "that".

I would say "Please explain what grammar structure"that" belongs to in your sentence." In any case, like most native speakers, I have no idea how to answer that question. (Jutfrank probably would.)

 

[Bambook]

I would say "Please explain what grammar structure"that" belongs to in your sentence." In any case, like most native speakers, I have no idea how to answer that question. (Jutfrank probably would.)

Thank you. I see now. My sentence is not a question so no "does" must be there.