On Thu, 24 Aug 2017 at 1:03 am, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 11:11 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >> Even without duplication, there is no rigid 1:1 connection between >> pronouns and proper nouns. > > > > Of course there is, or rather there should be. Sometimes i > n > very bad writing there is a long convoluted sentence that refers to many > people and concludes with something like "then he shot him" when it's not > clear who shot who because it's not clear which one was "he" and which one > was "him". > > Personal pronouns are just a shorthand name for a particular person > > that is > > used to save time when the meaning of that nickname is obvious. But when > the engineering obstacles are overcome and person duplicating machines > become practical the meaning of personal pronouns will *NEVER* be > obvious, and that's when the English language will need a major overhaul. > If I say, "when you see the light turn red, stop walking", the "you" refers to anyone who hears the sentence. > -- Stathis Papaioannou -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
