Feb 4, 2006 20:26
18 yrs ago
English term
United States
Translating words, preserving meaning
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, English
Most of the girls stayed home during their pregnancy.
English
Social Sciences
Anthropology
Teenage pregnancy
Two-part Question
Part I
Would this be the correct wording, or should it be "pregnancies" (which looks and sounds strange to me).
Part II
Would it simply be better to restructure the sentence and write: *Most of the girls stayed home while they were pregnant*?
Authoritative, well-reasoned answers appreciated.
Thank you.
Part I
Would this be the correct wording, or should it be "pregnancies" (which looks and sounds strange to me).
Part II
Would it simply be better to restructure the sentence and write: *Most of the girls stayed home while they were pregnant*?
Authoritative, well-reasoned answers appreciated.
Thank you.
Responses
| 3 +15 | I think you can leave it |
RHELLER
|
| 4 +12 | Most of the girls stayed home during pregnancy |
Cilian O'Tuama
|
| 5 | pregnancies |
SyB
|
| 3 +1 | ...while pregant |
Ken Cox
|
Responses
+15
3 mins
Selected
I think you can leave it
I am not 100% sure but another example would be
they stayed home during their illness (I don't think we would say illnesses- unless there was more than one type of illness)
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Note added at 14 mins (2006-02-04 20:41:28 GMT)
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Link - University of Michigan Health System ... Some studies have shown that women who exercise during their pregnancy are less likely to have complications ...
www.med.umich.edu/obgyn/smartmoms/exercise/
they stayed home during their illness (I don't think we would say illnesses- unless there was more than one type of illness)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2006-02-04 20:41:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Link - University of Michigan Health System ... Some studies have shown that women who exercise during their pregnancy are less likely to have complications ...
www.med.umich.edu/obgyn/smartmoms/exercise/
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jack Doughty
3 mins
|
|
thanks, Jack :-)
|
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| agree |
Nesrin
: For what it's worth, there are 450,000 Google hits for "their pregnancy" as opposed to 297,000 for "their pregnancies"
4 mins
|
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thanks, Nesrin :-)
|
|
| agree |
Kirill Semenov
19 mins
|
|
hats off to you :-)
|
|
| agree |
Tony M
: each girl only had one pregnancy. And I prefer 'during their...' to 'while they were...', as it emphasizes the time period, rather than the condition itself. You could possibly say 'confinement'?
24 mins
|
|
that term is no longer used and no one stays home; in fact, the clothes show off rather than hide the pregnancy - the world is a changin' :-)
|
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| agree |
Armorel Young
: With Dusty - each girl had only one pregnancy (but not with D. on confinement - that is the time at which the baby is born, not the whole pregnancy.
28 mins
|
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thanks Armorel :-)
|
|
| agree |
Trudy Peters
41 mins
|
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thanks, Trudy :-)
|
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| agree |
humbird
1 hr
|
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hello Susan!
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| agree |
Premium✍️
: They only have ONE pregnancy at a time. :-)
1 hr
|
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merci bien :-)
|
|
| agree |
Ken Cox
: This strikes me as the most natural wording (at least for NA). You could omit 'their', but my mental ear wants to hear it. You might say 'for the duration of / during the term of their pregnancy', but IMO that just add words for a dubious benefit.
1 hr
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my mental ear (what is that ?) likes it too :-)
|
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| agree |
Seema Ugrankar
3 hrs
|
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thanks, ugrankar :-)
|
|
| agree |
Sophia Finos (X)
4 hrs
|
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thanks, Sophia!
|
|
| agree |
Alfa Trans (X)
12 hrs
|
| agree |
Lori Dendy-Molz
: Perfectly OK, but I'd probably go with Cilian's answer as well.
18 hrs
|
| agree |
Walter Landesman
20 hrs
|
| agree |
Romanian Translator (X)
2 days 1 hr
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you, Rita. Thanks also to Cilian, Kenneth and SyB for your helpful responses."
24 mins
pregnancies
Sorry to go against everyone's opinion, for it can create much confusion sometime, but as an English writer I would put -ies instead of -y. There is a rather simple explanation to this: since we are talking about different girls, thus different pregnancies, it should be their pregnancies. Leaving -y would not be a terrible thing because, as you probably noticed, most people cannot seem to figure out the difference, but still -ies would make it look better for people who are extremely sharp.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Refugio
: This does not refer to the individual pregnancy of each, but rather the state or condition of pregnancy. That's why Cilian's answere is the best.
53 mins
|
+12
26 mins
Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Germany
Native in English
&
English
Germany
Quality Translations since 1986
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, English, German, and 6 more.
Most of the girls stayed home during pregnancy
says it all IMO. Is it not clear that it's their own?
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Tony M
: Yes, this avoids any question whatever of plural vs. singular!
1 min
|
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thanks - avoiding the issue wasn't my intention, it just sounds more natural to me this way
|
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| agree |
juvera
14 mins
|
| agree |
Bianca Jacobsohn
32 mins
|
| agree |
Refugio
: It also makes it clear that they are talking about the state or condition of pregnancy.
52 mins
|
|
an unintended extra bonus ;-)
|
|
| agree |
Premium✍️
: but the possessive adjective 'their' personalizes their state better.
1 hr
|
|
we don't say "he shot himself in his foot", but that's neither here nor there 'cos we don't say "he shot himself in foot" either ;-)
|
|
| agree |
Nesrin
1 hr
|
| agree |
NancyLynn
: that's what spontaneously came to mind - and as for confinement, what an old-fashioned term, glad it no longer applies as I'm 7 months into mine!
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Kurt Porter
12 hrs
|
| agree |
Ian M-H (X)
16 hrs
|
| agree |
Lori Dendy-Molz
: don't see why 'their' is needed -- wouldn't make much sense to stay home for someone else's pregnancy, would it?
18 hrs
|
| agree |
Walter Landesman
20 hrs
|
| agree |
Sonia Soros
20 hrs
|
+1
1 hr
...while pregant
Another option. It depends a bit on the intended audience and register, but IMO 'during their pregnancy' is the most natural for a medium register, and it conveys the idea of 'for a length of time' better than 'while pregnant', which emphasises the condition.
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Note added at 1 hr (2006-02-04 22:22:26 GMT)
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damn!... make that 'pregnant''
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Note added at 1 hr (2006-02-04 22:22:26 GMT)
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damn!... make that 'pregnant''
Discussion