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Personal possesive
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2003 8:58 am
by john martin
Do you think the following sentence is correct?
"Wash hands after using the toilet"
Does it need to read "Wash your hands after using the toilet"?
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2003 11:44 am
by Adam Simpson
It's correct within a certain context.
Re: Personal possesive
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2003 2:40 pm
by Lorikeet
john martin wrote:Do you think the following sentence is correct?
"Wash hands after using the toilet"
Does it need to read "Wash your hands after using the toilet"?
If you want to give the sentence that a parent would say to his/her child, "Wash your hands after using the toilet." would be the one.
However, if you are talking about a sign to employees in a restaurant, for example, it would probably read, "Wash hands after using toilet." Signs are often made shorter by dropping articles.
That's my opinion anyway.
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2003 2:59 pm
by dduck
I agree: it depends on the register.
Iain
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2003 4:00 pm
by lolwhites
Context is everything. You'd have to be pretty dumb to wash someone else's hands after using the toilet! Likewise, the message "Keep out of reach of children" on a bottle of medicine is not an instruction to the reader to climb onto a high shelf but to keep the bottle on a high shelf, although it's not explicitly stated.
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 6:33 pm
by Adam Simpson
Some of the best advice you'll ever receive is written on the side of most matchboxes:
'Keep dry and out of reach of children'
Apply this to either yourselves or the matches, as you see fit.
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 4:13 pm
by marukosu
To continue the digression...
The warning label on the packaging for a kitchen knife in Japan used to read: "KEEP OUT OF CHILDREN"
Good advice indeed!