Re: Subject/Object + Everyone/Someone
From: | Muke Tever <muke@...> |
Date: | Sunday, September 7, 2003, 19:30 |
> Tristan McLeay wrote:
>>
>> My logic lecturer pointed out that while 'Mary loves John' and 'John is
>> loved by Mary' mean the same thing, 'everyone loves someone' and
>> 'someone
>> is loved by everyone' mean different things and so concluded that you
>> can't apply 'subject' and 'object' to 'everyone' and 'someone'.
>>
>> Is that true? Then what would you call the everyone and someone? If not,
>> what's happening?
Your lecturer's possibly pulling your leg. "everyone" and "someone" are
pronouns, which by definition don't have fixed referents.
What you really want is "Mary loves John" : "John is loved by Mary" ::
"everyone loves someone" : "that someone is loved by everyone", where
"that" particularizes that the same someone from the first sentence is
meant, and not a new someone, i.e. some indefinite person.
*Muke!
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