Common Mistakes In English - A Pronoun/Demonym Version
Why "The American, The Canadian, and The Japanese" Are Not Quite Correct To Use in APH Fanfiction
Basics
Pronouns
-Simply put, a pronoun takes the place of a noun, these are sometimes also known as 'epithets' when specifically referring to a commonly used pronoun that takes place of someone or something's name.
Pronouns tend to only make sense when the noun they are replacing has already been introduced.
Pronoun Example:
Noun Version -
"Helen hit Bob with a pan."
Pronoun Version -
"She hit him with it."
In this case you would only know that 'she' was Helen if she had been introduced in the sentence or story beforehand. Make poor Bob up there a girl and you're in pronoun hell; as you'd have to use a different modifier to show which girl was doing the hitting. Not to mention what she was hitting the other girl with.
Epithet Example: "The City That Never Sleeps" is an epithet for the U.S. city of "New York"
Demonyms
-A demonym is the word that is used to describe a person based on where they're from. Sometimes, but not often, a demonym can be disputed or hard to pick out from the word that describes the nature of something; not its' origins. In that case try avoiding it.
Demonym Example:
People from Michigan can be correctly called one of three things:
"Michiganians"
"Michiganders"
"Michiganites"
Or even by the epitaph "Wolverines" though that is usually reserved for military-type personal from Michigan.
The American, The Canadian, and The Japanese
America is a country, or as in our case in this fandom, a person.
The American would be anyone from America. If Sealand was born in America he could be correctly referred to as 'The American' in a sentence.
So 'The American' would be someone from America, not necessarily the country.
While Alfred could technically be referred to as ‘The American’, I could technically also refer to myself in the third person as ‘The American’, this however does not make me America. (That title goes to Stephen Colbert)
You can still use 'The American' to describe things, just be careful how you use it.
Descriptive Use Example: "He used his fork the American way."
-Same thing goes with all the others, here’s a list of countries and their respective demonyms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adjectival_and_demonymic_forms_of_place_names
Please remember that everyone has their own style, and we're not here to nitpick but to inform. If you prefer to do something a certain way while still getting your own meaning across then go for it.
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Originally written for this thread: http://hetalia-kink.livejournal.com/11073.html?thread=34978369#t34978369
Basics
Pronouns
-Simply put, a pronoun takes the place of a noun, these are sometimes also known as 'epithets' when specifically referring to a commonly used pronoun that takes place of someone or something's name.
Pronouns tend to only make sense when the noun they are replacing has already been introduced.
Pronoun Example:
Noun Version -
"Helen hit Bob with a pan."
Pronoun Version -
"She hit him with it."
In this case you would only know that 'she' was Helen if she had been introduced in the sentence or story beforehand. Make poor Bob up there a girl and you're in pronoun hell; as you'd have to use a different modifier to show which girl was doing the hitting. Not to mention what she was hitting the other girl with.
Epithet Example: "The City That Never Sleeps" is an epithet for the U.S. city of "New York"
Demonyms
-A demonym is the word that is used to describe a person based on where they're from. Sometimes, but not often, a demonym can be disputed or hard to pick out from the word that describes the nature of something; not its' origins. In that case try avoiding it.
Demonym Example:
People from Michigan can be correctly called one of three things:
"Michiganians"
"Michiganders"
"Michiganites"
Or even by the epitaph "Wolverines" though that is usually reserved for military-type personal from Michigan.
The American, The Canadian, and The Japanese
America is a country, or as in our case in this fandom, a person.
The American would be anyone from America. If Sealand was born in America he could be correctly referred to as 'The American' in a sentence.
So 'The American' would be someone from America, not necessarily the country.
While Alfred could technically be referred to as ‘The American’, I could technically also refer to myself in the third person as ‘The American’, this however does not make me America. (That title goes to Stephen Colbert)
You can still use 'The American' to describe things, just be careful how you use it.
Descriptive Use Example: "He used his fork the American way."
-Same thing goes with all the others, here’s a list of countries and their respective demonyms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adjectival_and_demonymic_forms_of_place_names
Please remember that everyone has their own style, and we're not here to nitpick but to inform. If you prefer to do something a certain way while still getting your own meaning across then go for it.
***
Originally written for this thread: http://hetalia-kink.livejournal.com/11073.html?thread=34978369#t34978369