By Marriage, Grammar

To slightly revise my earlier reply... I think that you can understand this phrase literally -- to mean sex with someone to whom you are not married, irrespective of whether you are married to someone else. However, the phrase is often trotted out when discussing moral issues surrounding...

I would expect a priest/minister/reverend to perform the marriage.To me, your version sounds like she had no say in the matter.Married off by her family - sounds like an arranged marriage - am I right?

Hi GG, I am in full agreement with your examples in these contexts. Yes, they are correct. Singular or plural can still be used in a generic sense.- Sure, but it's still contexts dependent in my opinion I think most men, including me will just say " high heels are sexy". That,...

Absolutely correct, but that doesn't stop us from saying that we use the singular form when indicating the abstract/concept/generic meanings of nouns. In the sentence, "He wrote an article about the child in conflict with modern society," "child" is singular. (I may...

Generic? That's an interesting choice of word for a word. I've always used it for drugs. In the field of grammar, abstract nouns (such as beauty, democracy, love -some of these are countable as well) are categorized under 'uncountable' or 'mass noun'. Maybe I've...

Hi N2g, Your terminology threw me for a minute too. uncountable / abstract / concept / generic These adjectives have different meanings/connotations in different contexts. I believe Huevos is correct, that the one we need here is "generic." I've been looking for it myself. ...

I'm sure you mean generic, i.e. applicable to, or referring to all the members of a genus, class, group, or kind.GG says it's just a matter of style, but, for me, "arranged marriage" and "arranged marriages" draw quite different pictures in my mind's eye.

I think something is wrong with my country's Internet system. I don't think my comqputer is infected with a virus. I've the latest anti-virus program installed on my computer. Let's see on which page this post appears. It appears on page 1 when it should appear on page 2 or 3.

Thanks, Optilang, GG and Yoong Liat. I have no further question about the original question. I agree with GG's answer (arranged marriageS, gay marriage) Yong Liat, this is a side question. I wonder why my question confused you and made you ask: You suggested 'plural' or...

Hi New2grammar Please refer to the earlier posts. I think your question has already been answered.