Thursday, May 21, 2009
Grammatical:
On the back of the bathroom stall doors here at work, there are signs with a few points about sanitation and hygenics. The last point ends by saying "the dirt and germs you leave behind can harm others." Whenever I read that, the wording makes me unsettled... what sounds better to me would be "the dirt and germs you leave behind can be harmful to others" because dirt is an inanimate object. Now I am no expert on grammer, but I feel like I'm in the right on this. Agree or disagree?
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2 comments:
is that a question about the grammar or the scientific soundess of the phrase?
also, are verbs only attributed to animate things? what about personification?
Dirt may be inanimate, but germs are not. Though they probably don't intend to harm anyone, it is something that they actively do.
I think it could go either way.
ampappes
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