ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: The pronoun problem...

Stenka25 — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:18:52 GMT

Thanks.

Now I got the clear picture of the question.

Re: The pronoun problem...

Clive — Fri, 23 May 2008 02:21:44 GMT

Hi guys,

Mothers spent most of her time preparing meals, washing and ironing, and cleaning the house.

I wonder if the original sentence just had an apostophe? That would cause it to make sense.

Mother's spent most of her time preparing meals, washing and ironing, and cleaning the house.

( ie Mother has spent . . .)

Best wishes, Clive

Re: The pronoun problem...

Mister Micawber — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:31:38 GMT

.
Either the pronoun or the noun in your fragment is in error. I presume it should have read 'Mother'.

Re: The pronoun problem...

Grammar Geek — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:31:11 GMT

No, that's just not okay.

Mothers spend most of their time...

My mother spends most of her time...

(It's also inaccurate. I spend most of my time in my place of work. The rest gets fit in around that and going to the children's events outside of the house. I think the last time I ironed was some time in 2006.)

The pronoun problem...

Stenka25 — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:27:23 GMT

StartFragment>

Mothers spent most of her time preparing meals, washing and ironing, and cleaning the house.

I have a question about a pronoun "HER." In the above sentence we can easily infer that 'her' implies 'mothers.'

But while 'her' is single, 'mothers' is plural noun.

Is that still OK, or should we substitute 'their' for 'her,' or are both OK?