Sunday 3 May 2015

Mistaking Proper Nouns For Common Nouns

Martin (1992: 111):
[Note that names can be used as common nouns: the Smiths we knew back in Perth, a young Smith I hadn't yet met, a few of the Smiths that came. …]

Blogger Comments:

Trivially, these are all proper nouns, not common nouns, since each construes an entity considered unique, family or individual, rather than a class of entities or a non-unique instance of a class.

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