Pronouns for lifeless things are sometimes used as "her" and "his. How to decide (any rule) ?"

Answer 1

In English, the 'rule' is prior usage.

I'm aware this isn't much help. And it does mean that if you read a lot and see 'correct' usage that you'll know that specific case.

Of course, there are a few rather obvious sexisms in our usage. Ships are female because [until recently] all sailors were men, most sailors missed their wives/sweethearts/etc. terribly on long voyages, AND (as any sailor can tell you) the sea and the ships that sail on it are fickle, changable creatures prone to turn on you at nearly any moment (just like their long suffering ladies back home).

:-)

Some foreign languages have assigned genders for inanimate objects, usually based on their 'romantic' notions of what characteristics were more manly or more feminine. [Sexism in disguise.]


does this help?

Answer 2

boats and ships are supposed to be feminine
eg.the titanic was so big yet she took only 2 and half hours to sink.
moon,earth and sea -feminine but mostly in poems
eg oh,look at the moon,she is shining so bright(poem)
the sea is the strange;nobody can understand her moods.
countries' name - feminine
eg.long live england!long live her queen!
apart from these eg. in poetry there is really no rule for gender and the poet can femininise some objects;the reason for this is they have an imagination which sees the world/objects in a different light from a different angle.eg a poet can view a road as a lady or a flower as a beautiful maiden...
these are already pre determined rules.we only have to foolow them and remember them.

Answer 3

The only thing I can think of right now is that boats are feminine...Other than that, I think you can pretty much decide for yourself. Your car might be a boy, but maybe mine is a girl. I'll try to think about it some more.

Answer 4

I can help a little. Ships and countries are always "She"s. I don't know about anything called "He" though...

Answer 5

her is always a car or boat....you know, boy toys