LessonsStates of the Subject: Omission, Mention and Pronominal DefinitenessQuiz

A speaker may realize that an addressee has failed to retain or follow the intended subject. Restating that subject draws attention back to the proper referent. The book calls this alerting the slow or inattentive listener (التنبيه على غباوة السامع).

أو التنبيه على غباوة السامع
Or to alert the listener to an inability to follow the intended reference.

When a listener repeatedly confuses two people, a speaker may say «زَيْدٌ، زَيْدٌ هُوَ الَّذِي أَقْصِدُ»—“Zayd—Zayd is the one I mean.”

This resembles mention motivated by a weak indication, but the conditions differ. In the former, the indication may be inherently ambiguous; here the indication might be adequate while the listener fails to track it.

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Addressing an inattentive listener

States of the Subject: Omission, Mention and Pronominal Definiteness

A speaker may realize that an addressee has failed to retain or follow the intended subject. Restating that subject draws attention back to the proper referent. The book calls this alerting the slow or inattentive listener (التنبيه على غباوة السامع).

أو التنبيه على غباوة السامع
Or to alert the listener to an inability to follow the intended reference.

When a listener repeatedly confuses two people, a speaker may say «زَيْدٌ، زَيْدٌ هُوَ الَّذِي أَقْصِدُ»—“Zayd—Zayd is the one I mean.”

This resembles mention motivated by a weak indication, but the conditions differ. In the former, the indication may be inherently ambiguous; here the indication might be adequate while the listener fails to track it.