Questions about English

[Stammalor]

This is a thread were anyone can ask questions about English since that is the language used mostly on this site.


I'll begin with something I have seen in around but don't quite get: when "a" is used with a plural adjective, I don't have an example in front of me but I think one of them went something like this:
......many a.....(noun)

What is about this? I don't get what these constructions means, any one know?

[Xing]

Isn't it the same kind of construction we have in Swedish, in expressions like mången gång? Just that in English, the distinction between singular (cf Swedish "mången") and plural (cf Swedish "många") has vanished - it's "many" in both singular and plural.

[ol bofosh]

"I've seen many an accident in my line of work." = "I've seen many accidents in my line of work."
"It's been many a year since we've seen one another." = "It's been many years since we've seen each other."

I can't tell you how it works, except by alternative examples such as above. My instinct is that it's old fashioned, poetic or slightly colloquial, though still widespread and current (if that makes sense ¿?)

I suppose it's considered standard, but the phrases on the right are preferred.

[Stammalor]

Xing: I can't say that I ever heard that expression, or at least almost never.
So......
I have meet many a person during my trip is the same as I have meet many persons during my trip ?? Seemes strange, but thanks for the help

[Xing]

Well, in modern language - I guess this applies to Swedish as well as English - "many a" or "mången" has a rather archaic or literary flavour.

Expressions like "many a person" and "many persons" are close in meaning, but not identical. The former would have a clearer distributive meaning, whole the latter has a more collective meaning, or is ambiguous between a distributive and a collective meaning.

[Myntax]

At least in America, the "many a" construction is associated with more rural, old-fashioned speech and dialects. When I hear it, I perceive the meaning conveyed a little differently than the alternate, more standard construction. Do any of you get what I'm talking about? I can't exactly figure out how to put it in words.

[Thrice Xandvii]

At least in America, the "many a" construction is associated with more rural, old-fashioned speech and dialects. When I hear it, I perceive the meaning conveyed a little differently than the alternate, more standard construction. Do any of you get what I'm talking about? I can't exactly figure out how to put it in words.

Yeah, I get what you mean, and generally agree with it. But as Xing said, there is also a somewhat more poetic/archaic quality to the expression as well. "Many a" isn't something that would be used by most people in standard conversation I don't think.

I have meet many a person during my trip.

"Met" is the correct particple there.

[Salmoneus]

If you say "I have met many a person on my trip", you'll be expected to follow up with something like "and in each case..." - the many an X construction sets up multiple instances that you're talking about simultaneously, whereas many X can be one instance, or many instances, or it may not matter.

It's often used in situations of subtly telling you they know better: "I've seen many a wrecked car in my career (and I'm telling you, this one won't be worth repairing)" vs "I've seen a lot a wrecked cars in my career (so you're not the first / but this is the worst! / etc)".

Btw, the plural of person is people. For most purposes.

[Stammalor]

Found an example of the "many a X":

Many a American venturing to speak a foreign language is upset when people respond in English
So....., what, if any, would the difference be between "many Americans" and "many a American" in the example above?

[ol bofosh]

Found an example of the "many a X":

Many a American venturing to speak a foreign language is upset when people respond in English
So....., what, if any, would the difference be between "many Americans" and "many a American" in the example above?

Nothing semantically, as far as I know.

[Ànradh]

Found an example of the "many a X":

Many a American venturing to speak a foreign language is upset when people respond in English
So....., what, if any, would the difference be between "many Americans" and "many a American" in the example above?

Apart from agreement marking? Nothing that I can tell. The two following sentences convey the same meaning to me.
"Many an American, venturing to speak a foreign language, is upset when people respond in English."
"Many Americans, venturing to speak a foreign language, are upset when people respond in English."

Perhaps the former has a weak connotation that the speaker is an American too, while the latter suggests that the speaker might not be? Honestly though, that's not a distinction I expect many to pick up on, even L1 Anglophones, so I'm probably overanalysing it.

[Tanni]

... when "a" is used with a plural adjective, I don't have an example in front of me but I think one of them went something like this:
......many a.....(noun)

Most famous instance of that in Harry Belafonte, Jamaica Farewell, lyrics:

But I'm sad to say I'm on my way
Won't be back for many a day
My heart is down, my head is turning around
I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town

[Myntax]

My interpretation of the difference would be that "many a" signals many different, individual Americans, where "many" by itself indicates simply a group of Americans in general.

[clawgrip]

After considering this for a bit, my perception is that "many a X" specifically describes repeated events reoccurring across a great span of time, and as such acts as a comment on the general state of affairs. "many Xs" is more multi-purpose, able to represent both a general truth or a single, specific situation. So "many a X" is generally used to make a kind of general truth type statement.

This seems to match up with this statement:

"I've seen many an accident in my line of work." = "I've seen many accidents in my line of work."

= "Accidents are common in my line of work."


But something different is going on here:

"It's been many a year since we've seen one another." = "It's been many years since we've seen each other."

Perhaps it is just an extension of the general truth meaning but is just placing focus on the truthfulness, and thus the length of time? Not sure.

[Stammalor]

How come that sometimes English form relative clauses by using "who" and sometimes "that"? As in:
"I saw John who loves dogs" and
"I once saw a man that ate 12 apples in a row"
Why are there these two ways of doing it? Do they differ? Are there situations where only one of them are allowed? What are those situations?

[Thrice Xandvii]

They actually aren't interchangeable in my understanding of the particulars of English grammar rules. When discussing people, I was taught to use "who." "That" is therefore used in other situations. Familiarity is another aspect that can shift from "that" to "who" with more familiarity meaning a usage of "who." So, in the following example, one might even use "who" for the dog sentence if it's your neighbor's dog that you know really well. In fact, the more I talk about this, the less clear it seems to be to me!

• There's the dog that ate my lunch! VS
• There's the man who ate my lunch!

Though it is also my understanding that many people have confused these rules over the years and so the waters have become rather muddy on the subject. Also, the rule is sort of a... prescriptivist thing... and not something that most English speakers would probably notice in most situations.

Further complicating this issue is the word "which": http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoVwhVt.asp

[Khemehekis]

Can we have a double apostrophe?

Would the tray belonging to the maitre d' be:

the maitre d's tray

or

the maitre d''s tray
?

[Thrice Xandvii]

I don't think a double apostrophe is valid... so probably "maître d's" of course, one could use the un-shortened version: "maître d'hôtel's tray."

[hubris_incalculable]

I don't think a double apostrophe is valid... so probably "maître d's" of course, one could use the un-shortened version: "maître d'hôtel's tray."

Of course, you could always prod him until he tells you which one to use..

Sorry. I like making obscure jokes.

[prettydragoon]

Can we have a double apostrophe?

No. Because of apostrophe sandhi, consecutive apostrophes merge together and manifest as one single apostrophe.