Why “that of” in these sentences?
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
“I have anxiously awaited the arrival of those such as yourselves. My names Megumin! My calling is that of an arch wizard, one who controls explosion magic, the strongest of all offensive magic! Do you, too, desire my forbidden strength, which is so almighty, I’ve been ostracized by the entire world?” – Megumin
My calling is that of an arch wizard (in bold above)
My name is that of Michael. No god am I, but one who serves.
A Barons title is that of a lord, but he may opt to be referred to as Baron (or Baroness) versus lord.
My job title is that of Head of Commercial Operations, however most of the team call me the Director.
In all of these sentences, why they use that of instead of just saying "A is B", such as "my calling is arch wizard"?
word-usage
add a comment |
“I have anxiously awaited the arrival of those such as yourselves. My names Megumin! My calling is that of an arch wizard, one who controls explosion magic, the strongest of all offensive magic! Do you, too, desire my forbidden strength, which is so almighty, I’ve been ostracized by the entire world?” – Megumin
My calling is that of an arch wizard (in bold above)
My name is that of Michael. No god am I, but one who serves.
A Barons title is that of a lord, but he may opt to be referred to as Baron (or Baroness) versus lord.
My job title is that of Head of Commercial Operations, however most of the team call me the Director.
In all of these sentences, why they use that of instead of just saying "A is B", such as "my calling is arch wizard"?
word-usage
add a comment |
“I have anxiously awaited the arrival of those such as yourselves. My names Megumin! My calling is that of an arch wizard, one who controls explosion magic, the strongest of all offensive magic! Do you, too, desire my forbidden strength, which is so almighty, I’ve been ostracized by the entire world?” – Megumin
My calling is that of an arch wizard (in bold above)
My name is that of Michael. No god am I, but one who serves.
A Barons title is that of a lord, but he may opt to be referred to as Baron (or Baroness) versus lord.
My job title is that of Head of Commercial Operations, however most of the team call me the Director.
In all of these sentences, why they use that of instead of just saying "A is B", such as "my calling is arch wizard"?
word-usage
“I have anxiously awaited the arrival of those such as yourselves. My names Megumin! My calling is that of an arch wizard, one who controls explosion magic, the strongest of all offensive magic! Do you, too, desire my forbidden strength, which is so almighty, I’ve been ostracized by the entire world?” – Megumin
My calling is that of an arch wizard (in bold above)
My name is that of Michael. No god am I, but one who serves.
A Barons title is that of a lord, but he may opt to be referred to as Baron (or Baroness) versus lord.
My job title is that of Head of Commercial Operations, however most of the team call me the Director.
In all of these sentences, why they use that of instead of just saying "A is B", such as "my calling is arch wizard"?
word-usage
word-usage
edited Feb 9 at 21:40
userr2684291
2,58421531
2,58421531
asked Feb 9 at 19:57
dolcodolco
614310
614310
add a comment |
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
This is an effect of "heightened language". It is a deliberately fancy way of expressing something to mark the language of a strange character.
Here, the plain form would be "I am a wizard." You can raise the language a little by using the rare meaning of "calling"="job", to give "My calling is being a wizard." Then you can raise the language further to say "My calling is the calling of a wizard", but then avoid the repetition of "calling" by saying "My calling is that of a wizard".
Raised language is possible in most of the world languages, and Japanese has a particularly complex system of plain and raised language. This may be the translator's attempt to represent a complex and fancy expression of Japanese in English.
add a comment |
I'm not sure all of those are correct in everyday, terrestrial, non-fantasy English.
Both 2 and 4 sound much better with just a simple "is" instead of "is that of". Number 2 sounds particularly non-idiomatic. It should be "My name is Michael." Period.
4, also, should be "My job title is [perhaps in quotation marks or even italicized] "Head of Commercial Operations." because "Head of Commercial Operations" literally is his job title.
"That of" could be used to avoid saying plain "is" for some reason. Perhaps because the words following "is" aren't the literal completion of the statement.
For example:
"My name is that of my father and his father before him." You wouldn't say "My name is my father."
or
"My job title is that of the highest authority in the organization." because that isn't the exact wording of his job title.
Someone might also use "is that of" instead of just "is" in an effort to sound very formal, legalistic, or just plain pompous. Adding extra unnecessary words to your statements can help with that. It sounds to me like that might be the situation in example 1, where the author is trying to convey the personality type and social station of the speaker, Megumin.
I would not say that they are incorrect but rather that they are both grammatically correct and not appropriate usage.
– chrylis
Feb 10 at 4:33
add a comment |
The use of that of is correct in all instances quoted, except in the sentence, My name is that if Michael. I think poetic licence is being used here, meaning that in literature it is acceptable to deviate from the accepted use of the language, for effect.
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "481"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f196053%2fwhy-that-of-in-these-sentences%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
This is an effect of "heightened language". It is a deliberately fancy way of expressing something to mark the language of a strange character.
Here, the plain form would be "I am a wizard." You can raise the language a little by using the rare meaning of "calling"="job", to give "My calling is being a wizard." Then you can raise the language further to say "My calling is the calling of a wizard", but then avoid the repetition of "calling" by saying "My calling is that of a wizard".
Raised language is possible in most of the world languages, and Japanese has a particularly complex system of plain and raised language. This may be the translator's attempt to represent a complex and fancy expression of Japanese in English.
add a comment |
This is an effect of "heightened language". It is a deliberately fancy way of expressing something to mark the language of a strange character.
Here, the plain form would be "I am a wizard." You can raise the language a little by using the rare meaning of "calling"="job", to give "My calling is being a wizard." Then you can raise the language further to say "My calling is the calling of a wizard", but then avoid the repetition of "calling" by saying "My calling is that of a wizard".
Raised language is possible in most of the world languages, and Japanese has a particularly complex system of plain and raised language. This may be the translator's attempt to represent a complex and fancy expression of Japanese in English.
add a comment |
This is an effect of "heightened language". It is a deliberately fancy way of expressing something to mark the language of a strange character.
Here, the plain form would be "I am a wizard." You can raise the language a little by using the rare meaning of "calling"="job", to give "My calling is being a wizard." Then you can raise the language further to say "My calling is the calling of a wizard", but then avoid the repetition of "calling" by saying "My calling is that of a wizard".
Raised language is possible in most of the world languages, and Japanese has a particularly complex system of plain and raised language. This may be the translator's attempt to represent a complex and fancy expression of Japanese in English.
This is an effect of "heightened language". It is a deliberately fancy way of expressing something to mark the language of a strange character.
Here, the plain form would be "I am a wizard." You can raise the language a little by using the rare meaning of "calling"="job", to give "My calling is being a wizard." Then you can raise the language further to say "My calling is the calling of a wizard", but then avoid the repetition of "calling" by saying "My calling is that of a wizard".
Raised language is possible in most of the world languages, and Japanese has a particularly complex system of plain and raised language. This may be the translator's attempt to represent a complex and fancy expression of Japanese in English.
answered Feb 9 at 20:55
James KJames K
37.3k13891
37.3k13891
add a comment |
add a comment |
I'm not sure all of those are correct in everyday, terrestrial, non-fantasy English.
Both 2 and 4 sound much better with just a simple "is" instead of "is that of". Number 2 sounds particularly non-idiomatic. It should be "My name is Michael." Period.
4, also, should be "My job title is [perhaps in quotation marks or even italicized] "Head of Commercial Operations." because "Head of Commercial Operations" literally is his job title.
"That of" could be used to avoid saying plain "is" for some reason. Perhaps because the words following "is" aren't the literal completion of the statement.
For example:
"My name is that of my father and his father before him." You wouldn't say "My name is my father."
or
"My job title is that of the highest authority in the organization." because that isn't the exact wording of his job title.
Someone might also use "is that of" instead of just "is" in an effort to sound very formal, legalistic, or just plain pompous. Adding extra unnecessary words to your statements can help with that. It sounds to me like that might be the situation in example 1, where the author is trying to convey the personality type and social station of the speaker, Megumin.
I would not say that they are incorrect but rather that they are both grammatically correct and not appropriate usage.
– chrylis
Feb 10 at 4:33
add a comment |
I'm not sure all of those are correct in everyday, terrestrial, non-fantasy English.
Both 2 and 4 sound much better with just a simple "is" instead of "is that of". Number 2 sounds particularly non-idiomatic. It should be "My name is Michael." Period.
4, also, should be "My job title is [perhaps in quotation marks or even italicized] "Head of Commercial Operations." because "Head of Commercial Operations" literally is his job title.
"That of" could be used to avoid saying plain "is" for some reason. Perhaps because the words following "is" aren't the literal completion of the statement.
For example:
"My name is that of my father and his father before him." You wouldn't say "My name is my father."
or
"My job title is that of the highest authority in the organization." because that isn't the exact wording of his job title.
Someone might also use "is that of" instead of just "is" in an effort to sound very formal, legalistic, or just plain pompous. Adding extra unnecessary words to your statements can help with that. It sounds to me like that might be the situation in example 1, where the author is trying to convey the personality type and social station of the speaker, Megumin.
I would not say that they are incorrect but rather that they are both grammatically correct and not appropriate usage.
– chrylis
Feb 10 at 4:33
add a comment |
I'm not sure all of those are correct in everyday, terrestrial, non-fantasy English.
Both 2 and 4 sound much better with just a simple "is" instead of "is that of". Number 2 sounds particularly non-idiomatic. It should be "My name is Michael." Period.
4, also, should be "My job title is [perhaps in quotation marks or even italicized] "Head of Commercial Operations." because "Head of Commercial Operations" literally is his job title.
"That of" could be used to avoid saying plain "is" for some reason. Perhaps because the words following "is" aren't the literal completion of the statement.
For example:
"My name is that of my father and his father before him." You wouldn't say "My name is my father."
or
"My job title is that of the highest authority in the organization." because that isn't the exact wording of his job title.
Someone might also use "is that of" instead of just "is" in an effort to sound very formal, legalistic, or just plain pompous. Adding extra unnecessary words to your statements can help with that. It sounds to me like that might be the situation in example 1, where the author is trying to convey the personality type and social station of the speaker, Megumin.
I'm not sure all of those are correct in everyday, terrestrial, non-fantasy English.
Both 2 and 4 sound much better with just a simple "is" instead of "is that of". Number 2 sounds particularly non-idiomatic. It should be "My name is Michael." Period.
4, also, should be "My job title is [perhaps in quotation marks or even italicized] "Head of Commercial Operations." because "Head of Commercial Operations" literally is his job title.
"That of" could be used to avoid saying plain "is" for some reason. Perhaps because the words following "is" aren't the literal completion of the statement.
For example:
"My name is that of my father and his father before him." You wouldn't say "My name is my father."
or
"My job title is that of the highest authority in the organization." because that isn't the exact wording of his job title.
Someone might also use "is that of" instead of just "is" in an effort to sound very formal, legalistic, or just plain pompous. Adding extra unnecessary words to your statements can help with that. It sounds to me like that might be the situation in example 1, where the author is trying to convey the personality type and social station of the speaker, Megumin.
answered Feb 9 at 20:54
Lorel C.Lorel C.
3,40649
3,40649
I would not say that they are incorrect but rather that they are both grammatically correct and not appropriate usage.
– chrylis
Feb 10 at 4:33
add a comment |
I would not say that they are incorrect but rather that they are both grammatically correct and not appropriate usage.
– chrylis
Feb 10 at 4:33
I would not say that they are incorrect but rather that they are both grammatically correct and not appropriate usage.
– chrylis
Feb 10 at 4:33
I would not say that they are incorrect but rather that they are both grammatically correct and not appropriate usage.
– chrylis
Feb 10 at 4:33
add a comment |
The use of that of is correct in all instances quoted, except in the sentence, My name is that if Michael. I think poetic licence is being used here, meaning that in literature it is acceptable to deviate from the accepted use of the language, for effect.
add a comment |
The use of that of is correct in all instances quoted, except in the sentence, My name is that if Michael. I think poetic licence is being used here, meaning that in literature it is acceptable to deviate from the accepted use of the language, for effect.
add a comment |
The use of that of is correct in all instances quoted, except in the sentence, My name is that if Michael. I think poetic licence is being used here, meaning that in literature it is acceptable to deviate from the accepted use of the language, for effect.
The use of that of is correct in all instances quoted, except in the sentence, My name is that if Michael. I think poetic licence is being used here, meaning that in literature it is acceptable to deviate from the accepted use of the language, for effect.
answered Feb 9 at 20:38
GitaGita
11
11
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language Learners Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f196053%2fwhy-that-of-in-these-sentences%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown