What's the error in the following sentence?
"One must not boast of his own talents."
Kindly provide me some answers, Thank you.
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One must not boast of his or her own talents. One can also mean a female. – JayHook Mar 17 '14 at 14:04
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@JayHook that is not an error, though. That's a purely political argument, not a linguistic one. – RegDwigнt Mar 17 '14 at 14:15
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2I don't see an error in this sentence. – Joe Z. Mar 17 '14 at 14:18
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related: One - does common English usage equate that to “you” (2nd person) or “he/she” (3rd person)? – FumbleFingers Mar 17 '14 at 14:26
1 Answers
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It should be
One must not boast of one's own talents.
Or if you wanted to keep the "his" because you are referring to a specific (male) person:
He must not boast of his own talents.
Digital Chris
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1According to which authority? An article at grammar.ccc.com contains: In the United States, the possessive and reflexive forms of one — one's and oneself — are often replaced by other pronoun forms. In British English, they are commonplace:
One must be conscientious about one's dental hygiene. In the U.S. that one's is apt to be replaced by a third-person "his" or (more informally) a second-person "your":
One must be conscientious about one's [or his] dental hygiene. One must be conscientious about your dental hygiene.
– Edwin Ashworth Mar 17 '14 at 15:10