Singular noun after Their

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi everyone,

I just came across this sentence in an article and wonder why the word “face” is used as a singular.
Do you ever notice yourself staring at other women’s waists instead of THEIR FACE?

Here is my thoughts: its meaning is plural for women, but the fact that each people only have one face. I am not sure if it’s right.

Thank you very much in advance.

2

It’s not a well written sentence. Here are the two forms which would be correct:

Do you ever notice yourself staring at other women’s waists instead of at their faces?
Do you ever notice yourself staring at another woman’s waist instead of her face?

In addition, the fact that this sentence uses ‘other/another’ indicates that the sentence is directed at women only.
If it were directed at men, or at men and women, it would need to be:
Do you ever notice yourself staring at women’s waists instead of at their faces?
Do you ever notice yourself staring at a woman’s waist instead of her face?

3

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Inuyasha:

  1. When you have time, you may wish to go to a search engine (such as Google) and type in distributive plurals.
  1. Here is some information from a very, very big grammar book used by many teachers throughout the world.

a. Have you all brought your cameraS? [Each has a camera]
b. Hand in your paperS next Monday. [Each has to hand in one paper]

c. Sometimes we have a choice:

i. The students raised their hand. / their handS.
ii. The exercise was not good for their back. / backS.

d. Sometimes it necessary to use the singular, especially for idioms:

i. They can’t put their finger on what’s wrong. [NEVER “fingerS.”]

e. Sometimes the singular is used to avoid ambiguity:

i. Students were asked to name their favorite sport. [Only ONE sport was to be named.]

Source: A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE by Quirk, et. al (1985 edition, page 768).

  1. Here are two sentences that may interest you:

a. “The children all had such eager faceS.”
b. “They all had such an eager expression.”

Source: THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

James

4

Beeesneees,

  1. Do you ever stare at other women?
  2. Do you ever stare at another woman?
    Are these sentences correct?
    Can’t I use ‘other’ in #2 sentence?
    And similarly can’t I use ‘another’ in #1 sentence?
    Thanks.
5

They mean different things.

another woman - one other
other women - two or more other.

You can’t change them over as you would be mixing singular and plural.

6

Thank you very much Beeesneees and James. I haven’t had such thick books so far, but I think I have to buy one soon. I really appreciate your extra suggestions. Otherwise I couldn’t have learned something more.

I don’t quite understand the point c,i, as the students are plurals.
Could you please explain that?

7

I do not really understand example 2.c.i. either. To me, “hands” and “backs” would be more correct. I guess the problem with “raised their hands” is you might picture all of the students raising both of their hands.