A simple english question
What does "wife of 64 years mean"?
Does it mean the wife is 64 years old or does it mean that the marriage lasted 64 years
Does it mean the wife is 64 years old or does it mean that the marriage lasted 64 years
Comments (25)
I say it means she's been a wife for 64 years.
The phrase 'Wife of 64 years' doesn't have a determinable meaning out of context. What's the sentence you're confused about or want to make?
"Dr. Craven is survived by Dorothy Drakesmith Craven, his wife of 64 years; a son, David; a daughter, Sarah Craven; and five grandchildren."
John P. Craven, 90, pioneer of spying at sea, dies
They were married for 64 years.
Congratulations to them. Thank you.
No worries. It could be confusing because we have the phrase, X years of age. As in 'She is 64 years of age.' So, someone might conceivably say, 'I have a wife of 64 years of age' (though the first 'of' would be superfluous at best). You could more correctly say, 'I have a wife, 64 years of age', or better, 'I have a wife who's 64 years of age', or best, 'My wife is 64'. But someone's 'wife of X years' (period) definitely refers to the length of the marriage as before the marriage there was no 'wife'. It's parallel to the phrase, our "union of X years".
Often marriage ceremonies don't occur on the birthing table.
Without trying to be mean or anything, but does anyone really care what you say. :wink:
But in the context of the article you are right, as Baden explained.
Hopefully, as I'm a native English speaker.
That makes three of us, you and me too. Unless Manchester managed to gain its independence from England without me knowing.
You speak British, an antiquated English, the form spoken prior to the American corrections and perfection.
He speaks Mancunian, so there certainly are issues there.
But American is just dumbed down British. Apparently "doughnut" is too complicated for you lot.
Found this vid of @Michael doing his cockney thing. You'll notice he's a bit vertically challenged but a charming fella' nonetheless.
:lol: :rofl: :lol: :rofl:
Ya think? Ya'lls wrong on that. I lived in Canada, the USA and several other places around Central America as well as England. The last time I was back there I had trouble understanding them and they thought I was a foreigner.
I have the bad habit of picking up other peoples way of speaking when I am around them for a while. I was in Belize and the Bay Islands for work and my father used to laugh when he heard me speaking after returning from a trip.
Extraordinary bit of research done there. :clap:
The Bay Islanders way of speaking is influenced by the southern states drawling speech as well as the English settlers from generations ago, but they do actually say ya'll. In Belize, most of the time it sounds like y'll. Language is so much fun.
A woman of questionable sanity.
Oh my, a heretic! :scream: English is the language spoken by the English people, who live in England. The lingua franca of the Western World is called "American"*. It is the language of barbarians.
Thank you for your attention.
* - Or "American English", if you wish also to refer to the historic source of the American language.