[General] Introduction in English

[Jakub1606]

Hello,

recently I've taken a funny (ha-ha and peculiar) test and I was supposed to find out whether a particular person is male, female or of an unspecified gender:

"I should like to introduce you to my sister Amanda, who lives in New York, to Mark, my brother who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn."

According to the results, Evelyn is male. I thought it could not be said, but apparently it could. So, what should have induced me to think that Evelyn was male?

Thank you in advance

 

[SoothingDave]

Evelyn (name) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have no idea. Evelyn is more often a female.

Of course, this sentence is completely unnatural.

 

[bhaisahab]

Hello,

recently I've taken a funny (ha-ha and peculiar) test and I was supposed to find out whether a particular person is male, female or of an unspecified gender:

"I should like to introduce you to my sister Amanda, who lives in New York, to Mark, my brother who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn."

According to the results, Evelyn is male. I thought it could not be said, but apparently it could. So, what should have induced me to think that Evelyn was male?

Thank you in advance

From the evidence given I would have chosen "unspecified gender".

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hello,

recently I've taken a funny (ha-ha and peculiar) test and I was supposed to find out whether a particular person is male, female or of an unspecified gender:

"I should like to introduce you to my sister Amanda, who lives in New York, to Mark, my brother who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn."

According to the results, Evelyn is male. I thought it could not be said, but apparently it could. So, what should have induced me to think that Evelyn was male?

Thank you in advance

The point of the test is to understand what the relative clauses say and don't say.
In the case of Amanda, we know she is a female (sister) and she lives in New York. But we find out that she lives in New York via a non-defining clause. That is different from "my sister Amanda who lives in New York". Without the commas, that is a defining clause. According to the people who wrote this silly question, the use of the non-defining clause limits you to one sister, while the use of the defining clause allows the possibility of another sister. Mark has to be a male (brother). Evelyn is the third sibling. If you only have one sister, then Evelyn must be a male.

In my opinion, this is a real stretch. By their very nature, non-defining clauses are accessory information and can be eliminated from the sentence. This puts undue emphasis on the words "my sister Amanda" as conveying that she is your only sister. And that is an error in my opinion. It would not be uncommon to introduce three siblings as "my sister Amanda, my brother Mark, and my sister Evelyn. While the defining clause creates the likelihood that you have another sister (one who doesn't live in New York), the use of the non-defining clause does not rule that out.

Therefore, in the original problem, I would choose "unspecified gender" for Evelyn.

 

[SoothingDave]

The point of the test is to understand what the relative clauses say and don't say.
In the case of Amanda, we know she is a female (sister) and she lives in New York. But we find out that she lives in New York via a non-defining clause. That is different from "my sister Amanda who lives in New York". Without the commas, that is a defining clause. According to the people who wrote this silly question, the use of the non-defining clause limits you to one sister, while the use of the defining clause allows the possibility of another sister. Mark has to be a male (brother). Evelyn is the third sibling. If you only have one sister, then Evelyn must be a male.

In my opinion, this is a real stretch. By their very nature, non-defining clauses are accessory information and can be eliminated from the sentence. This puts undue emphasis on the words "my sister Amanda" as conveying that she is your only sister. And that is an error in my opinion. It would not be uncommon to introduce three siblings as "my sister Amanda, my brother Mark, and my sister Evelyn. While the defining clause creates the likelihood that you have another sister (one who doesn't live in New York), the use of the non-defining clause does not rule that out.

Therefore, in the original problem, I would choose "unspecified gender" for Evelyn.

I know grammarians have rules about this, but I really doubt that in real life you can tell if someone has another sister by their use or non-use of a comma in these types of sentences. I doubt many native speakers know the difference or intend to make such a distinction.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I know grammarians have rules about this, but I really doubt that in real life you can tell if someone has another sister by their use or non-use of a comma in these types of sentences. I doubt many native speakers know the difference or intend to make such a distinction.

I completely agree. I just wanted to deal with it on the ground that it was delivered.

 

[Tdol]

It's difficult to hear the commas in speech, though.

 

[bhaisahab]

It's difficult to hear the commas in speech, though.

Try this: Victor Borge Phonetic Pronunciation - YouTube ;-)

 

[Tdol]

Will it catch on? :up: