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Post by Pete on May 1, 2008 8:29:25 GMT
I heard someone say the other day, "his whereabouts were unknown". Is "whereabouts" a plural, in which case the quote was grammatically correct, or a singular that just happens to end in 's'?
And if it's a plural, it seems odd conceptually, as a person can only be in one place at a time, so can only ever have a singular whereabout. Photons and other sub-atomic particles may be able to be in more than one place at the same time, people generally cannot.
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Post by Barry on May 1, 2008 8:50:01 GMT
Pete,
Yes, it's generally plural (although my dictionaries tell me it can be singular). I think that the plural is used as 'whereabouts' implies an approximation, so, yes, a person can be only one exact place at one time, but the word is describing the possible area(s) arround an approximate position - it's a bit like the word 'surroundings'.
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Post by Bertie on May 1, 2008 14:55:32 GMT
Quite often I find myself using the word when speaking on the telephone - as in, "Whereabouts are you?". For the life of me I cannot think why I don't just use "where".
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Post by Sue M-V on May 2, 2008 13:35:00 GMT
For the life of me I cannot think why I don't just use "where". Nor can I! I think people do say "Where abouts are you?" which might give a slightly more specific answer that just "Where are you?" Q: Where are you? A: I'm in town*. Q: Where abouts are you?" A: I'm in the supermarket*. *can be altered to suit. Whereabouts does seem to shift between singular and plural. I think Barry has explained it well.
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Post by Dave M on May 2, 2008 14:00:02 GMT
I'd take it the other way round, Sue. Imagine that someone rings to say they'll be late, and you ask "Where are you?". That seems to request a specific answer, such as "in the very centre of Puddleduck, just passing the Church", whereas the question "Whereabouts are you?" signals that only an approximate answer is required: "Dunno- about 40 miles north of Leeds, I think".
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Post by Dr Mildr on May 2, 2008 18:42:07 GMT
I think (although thinking about it I'm now not sure) that I agree with Dave M and would consider "whereabouts" to mean "about where", and hence give a vague answer. If I want to know someone's exact location I'd probably ask "Where are you exactly?"*
*Should this have a final full stop?
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Post by Tone on May 2, 2008 20:59:42 GMT
*Should this have a final full stop?Absolutely, yes, and, definitely! (Or a period. ) Tone
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Post by Sue M-V on May 3, 2008 0:30:03 GMT
Yes, it occurs to me that the relative meanings of "where" and "whereabouts" depend very much on which one you ask first!
Sue
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Post by Paul Doherty on May 3, 2008 0:37:01 GMT
Oxford style is to use the stronger mark only. So there would be no final full point.
Tone, which of these would you choose?
- She was awarded a D.Phil. rather than a Ph.D. - She was awarded a D.Phil. rather than a Ph.D..
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Post by Tone on May 3, 2008 20:36:19 GMT
Paul, Not comparative examples. But I will concede your point that "an authority" says otherwize than my own answer. But the doctor asked for an opinion. The opinion given was my own on this particular issue (as some of you will, by now, know).
Tone
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Post by Paul Doherty on May 3, 2008 21:34:50 GMT
Tone, i was guessing that your reason for using a final point in I'd probably ask "Where are you exactly?" would be logic. The same logic would surely also demand the closing point in She was awarded a D.Phil. rather than a Ph.D..?
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Post by Dave M on May 4, 2008 13:17:05 GMT
Don't follow that, Paul. Let's consider the sentence She was awarded a D.Phil. rather than a Ph.D. That ends in a period, and we say by convention we don't need to double it - agreed.
However, when we deal with the sentence I'd probably ask "Where are you exactly?", the question mark isn't at the end of the sentence - it's at the end of the embedded clause, and BEFORE the quotes close. There is therefore only one piece of punctuation to "fight for strongest", at the end of the sentence: the one period which Tone and I think Mildr should add.
There are cases, though, where the ending question mark doesn't apply to the whole sentence, and we DO follow the Oxford guidance and not double-up:
She told me to use three apples, two oranges, and did she say a banana?
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Post by Paul Doherty on May 4, 2008 17:36:22 GMT
Ok, it's not quite the same.
I can only quote the Oxford Guide to Style:
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Post by Tone on May 4, 2008 20:21:40 GMT
Precisely my point. The inverted commas are that which maketh a difference.
when we deal with the sentence I'd probably ask "Where are you exactly?", the question mark isn't at the end of the sentence - it's at the end of the embedded clause
Presumably the method cited by Paul would, if it dumps my period, dump your comma.
Tone
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Post by Dave M on May 4, 2008 20:29:37 GMT
Which is exactly why I sneakily and knowingly constructed a sentence with the comma in!
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