Pronouns in English concerning to things
Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of the Four:
"... I want to find the whereabouts of a steam launch called the Aurora, owner Mordecai Smith, black with two red streaks, funnel black with a white band. She is down the river somewhere..."
I thought that pronouns "He","She" can only be used concerning to human beings. We have to use "It" for animals and things. In the quote Holmes says about launch, so why "She"?
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Answers · 3
3
Certain vehicles, particularly boats and cars, are sometimes referred to with feminine pronouns.
3
It used to be normal to give feminine pronouns to boats and ships, along with women's names. This practice is a little outdated now, but you often come across it in older texts.
By the way, it isn't true that 'he' and 'she' can only be applied to human beings. If you know that an animal is male or female, you use appropriate gendered pronoun. A person could be quite insulted if you referred to their beloved cat, dog or horse as 'it' rather than 'he' or 'she'
As an extension of the boat/ship convention above, if someone has a special affection for their car, for example, it's not unusual for them to refer to it as 'she'.
There's also a convention in more formal and poetic contexts to refer to countries/nations with feminine pronouns, and also to personify abstract nouns ( e.g. love) as feminine.
1
If you know the sex of the animal, you use "he" or "she". If you don't know the sex, you refer to it as "it".
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