How come people tends to use SHE and not HE when they are referring to a car or a machine etc.?
463275
I like to stick my junk in my car muffler, so that makes it a woman.
1172365
Thank you!  It drives me crazy too.  People also need to learn how to use their, they're, and there.  Than and then is also annoying.  My biggest pet peeve though is people who think orientated is a word.
625163
Yes, people in the UK use 'ain't'!!\n\nBut I think you'll have trouble proving that it's an American expression - cockney kids have been saying it for centuries!!
960254
There are different kinds of pronouns, but the personal pronouns which can be used as subjects or predicate nominatives (called the nominative case) are:\nI, you, he,she it\nwe, you, they\nThe objective case personal pronouns are used as objects, either as objects of the preposition, indirect or direct objects.  They are:\nme, you, him,her, it\nus, you, them\n\nHence I may say the following:\nI gave him the ball. (him is an indirect object, I is the subject)\nYou gave the pen to me (you is the subject and me is the object of the preposition)\n\nHe gave her as a gift to the sultan. (he is subject and her is the direct object)
1141279
One is, as I am sure you know, the contraction for you are while the other shows possesive case. There, I wrote that for all the yahooites who might read this and do not have a clue about proper English. While I am not perfect myself, some of the spellings are simply too strange at times so it is little wonder that some are confused by the two words. It is a sad sign of the times I am afraid.
772008
Ooh i did about this on friday . Well the posssesive pronoun adjective is used instaed of saying my car and their book you would change the posseive adjective ( my , you their, etc. ) and the following noun ( book, car, etc.) to the possessive pronoun which would be mine, yours , theirs etc. I'l list teh changes :\n\nMy - mine\nYour- yours\nhis/her/its- his/hers/its\nour - ours\ntheir -theirs\n\nSo, instead of having the posseive adjective followed by the noun, you would have the possesvive pronoun on its own. Instead of having to list the noun everytime you would just say its mine or its theirs or its yours. Hope this helps, tried to be as clear as i could
457284
You are my son : Tu est mon fils\nYou are my daughter : Tu est ma fille\n\nThere's no difference if the speaker is male or female. You just say the same thing according to the sex of the object.
317047
A French teacher was explaining to her College class\n>> > that in French, unlike\n>> > English, nouns are designated as either masculine or\n>> > feminine. House is\n>> > feminine "la maison." Pencil is masculine-"le crayon."\n>> > A student asked,\n>> > "What gender is 'computer'?" Instead of giving the\n>> > answer, the teacher split\n>> > the class into two groups - male and female - and\n>> > asked them to decide for\n>> > themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or\n>> > a feminine noun. Each\n>> > group was asked to give four reasons for their\n>> > recommendation.\n>> >\n>> > The men's group decided that "computer" should\n>> > definitely be\n>> > of the feminine gender (la computer) because:\n>> >\n>> > 1. No one but their creator understands their internal\n>> > logic; 2. The native\n>> > language they use to communicate with other computers\n>> > is incomprehensible to\n>> > everyone else; 3. Even the smallest mistakes are\n>> > stored in long term memory\n>> > for possible later review; and 4. As soon as you make\n>> > a commitment to one,\n>> > you find yourself spending half your paycheque on\n>> > accessories for it.\n>> >\n>> > The women's group, however, concluded that computers\n>> > should be masculine (le computer) because:\n>> >\n>> > 1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn\n>> > them on; 2. They have\n>> > a lot of data but still can't think for themselves; 3.\n>> > They are supposed to\n>> > help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE\n>> > the problem; and 4. As\n>> > soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had\n>> > waited a little\n>> > longer, you could have gotten a better model.\n>> >
724255
It is a word, but not used commonly.
881533
This is not the answer that you're looking for.\n\nI just have a major bee in my bonnet about the abhorrent standard of English used in this media.\n\nThanks. I have got it off my chest now !
556209
English does not clearly distinguish gender on people; in fact there is some movement to eliminate it (letter carrier instead of postman, server instead of waiter, waitress).  Therefore 'friend' can mean a male or female friend.  (Lucy is my friend.  George is my friend.)  You can use 'girlfriends' as a woman to refer to a group of your female friends, not lovers: Lucy and her girlfriends went out to lunch and had too many Marguaritas.  I have heard people say 'guy friends' to refer to male friends who were not boyriends, but that is spoken language only.  So:\namigo/ami etc.   friend\namiga/amie  etc.   friend\nboyfriend (male with whom you are romantically involved)\ngirlfriend (female with who you are romantically involved)\n\nLearners of langauges where there are gender distinctions have a lot of trouble NOT interpreting amigo/amiga as the English boyfriend/girlfriend, so it goes both ways!
527935
The English language doesn't generally add an 'e' for gender, what you are experiencing is a leftover from the French language.  There is a lot of French mixed into the English language.\n\nIn French, nouns have a gender and adjectives have to agree with the gender of the noun they are modifying.  There are many variations but normally this is done by adding an 'e'.\n\nIn English, 'blond' or 'blonde' are both acceptable for either men or women as we don't normally distinguish between gender for nouns and adjectives.  Since we kbow that French people use 'blonde' for female situations then we sometimes do the same but it doesn't really matter.\n\nEnglish is not a pure language and we absorb many words from other languages so there might be other examples out there but they are not really pure English.  Its very difficult to be scientific about any language but especially English.
1069330
HIM as in "him and her"
495542
"Woman".  Oman is a country, and "man" is theoretically the opposite of "woman".
1167702
Guys aren't the only ones who name their cars, girls do as well.  My car is named Martin and he serves me well.
332535
Consider the source...the people that mis use this term, are followers...they have heard it wrong and used it wrong without knowing any better.  Those of us that are aware of the proper usage tend to lapse in respect for the speakers.  Regardless, I couldn't care less how they say it because I know the way it is meant, and enjoy correcting most!
111133
All depends upon whom you are talking to, but you can't go wrong with the technical words.  You can also dodge it by saying "female reproductive organ".  Slang can be appropriate if talking to a buddy, or it could make you sound like an idiot when giving a presentation.