1.
We use this expression commonly, but there's no single word to denote "and/or".
If you say, Gods and heroes, that means both. Gods or heroes, that means one or the other but NOT both. There is no single word we can insert to indicate that it could be one but also possibly both.
You might argue "and/or" is a word. A new word. But it is rejected in formal writing, where such distinctions would be the most useful. So much for that.
2.
"Whose" for non-people
Ex: He opened the door, whose rusty hinges creaked.
The above is technically grammatically incorrect as door is a non-person and thus can't be modified by whose, but there is no thats or whiches to introduce a clause indicating possession by a non-person noun.
If you ask an editor how to fix the example sentence they'll just tell you to write it differently so there's no possessive clause or split it into two sentences.
What garbage. Why don't we have a word for that?
In the case of the door, it is possible for non-person nouns to possess something. For example, the door's hinges is a valid construction.
Apparently you can't just make words, or there's two we would've had.
1.
We use this expression commonly, but there's no single word to denote "and/or".
If you say, Gods and heroes, that means both. Gods or heroes, that means one or the other but NOT both. There is no single word we can insert to indicate that it could be one but also possibly both.
You might argue "and/or" *is* a word. A new word. But it is rejected in formal writing, where such distinctions would be the most useful. So much for that.
2.
"Whose" for non-people
Ex: He opened the door, *whose* rusty hinges creaked.
The above is technically grammatically incorrect as door is a non-person and thus can't be modified by whose, but there is no thats or whiches to introduce a clause indicating possession by a non-person noun.
If you ask an editor how to fix the example sentence they'll just tell you to write it differently so there's no possessive clause or split it into two sentences.
What garbage. Why don't we have a word for that?
In the case of the door, it *is* possible for non-person nouns to possess something. For example, the door's hinges is a valid construction.
Apparently you can't just make words, or there's two we would've had.
(post is archived)