Living by himself vs Living on his own - English Language ...

"living on his own" tends towards meaning without requiring support. After living with his parents most of his life with his mother doing his ... EnglishLanguageLearnersStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforspeakersofotherlanguageslearningEnglish.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore LivingbyhimselfvsLivingonhisown AskQuestion Asked 7years,2monthsago Modified 3yearsago Viewed 21ktimes 14 3 Whatisthedifferencebetweenthesesentencesbelowintermsofmeaning? Helivesbyhimself. Helivesonhisown Ifyouaskme,thefirstsentenceconnotesthathedoesn'thaveahousemate/wife,likebeingaloneathome.Thesecondsentenceconnotesthathedoesn'thavegirlfriend/boyfriendorfriends/familywhosupporthimwhenheneeds,likefeelinglonely. differencesentence-meaningsentence-choiceconnotations Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJan26,2015at23:26 200_success 7,94511goldbadge2828silverbadges4545bronzebadges askedJan26,2015at15:08 MrtMrt 10.5k5757goldbadges158158silverbadges251251bronzebadges 8 3 Maybesomeoneherewilldisagree,butI'manativespeakerandIcan'tmakeoutanydifferencebetweenthetwosentences.Theybothmeanthatthemanlivesathomewithoutawifeoranyhousemates.Neithersentencereallyindicatehowmuchsupporthehasordoesn'thavefromfriendsandfamilywhodon'tlivewithhim. – Mark Jan26,2015at15:14 4 theycanbesomewhatinterchanged."livingbyhimself"tendstowardsmeaningwithoutanyoneinthesamehouse."livingonhisown"tendstowardsmeaningwithoutrequiringsupport. – eques Jan26,2015at16:41 @equesYoushouldwriteanansweraroundyourcomment.Ithinkyouareright. – user3169 Jan26,2015at17:37 3 Thiscouldalsobesomewhatcultural.InmajorEnglishspeakingcountries(US,UK),living'onyourown'isagoodthing.Itdoesn'tmeanyou're'alone';rather,itmeansyou'recapableofsupportingyourself.SortofaProtestantWorkEthicconcept[notmeaningthereligiouselements,buttheresultantculturalelementsthatpersistintheUSandtoalesserextentintheUK].Inmanyothercountriesthisisn'tasbigofagoal,andtheexistenceofsupportismoreimportant. – Joe Jan26,2015at19:46 1 Itendtoavoidinterpretingsonglyrics(asIthinkisthenormonthissite,theonetimeItrieditwasdiscouraged).IwouldsaythatIdon'tintendtosaythat'livingonmyown'is100%good-butthatit'softenusedinapositivesenseintheUS/UK,andIwouldn'tassumeanegativeconnotationunlessIhadreasonto.Asmichellenotesinheranswer,contextiscertainlyveryimportant.Iwasjustnotingthattheremaybeculturaldifferenceswherethedefaultoutofcontextmaybedifferent. – Joe Jan26,2015at20:12  |  Show3morecomments 2Answers 2 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 19 Theycanbesomewhatinterchanged;thatis,theyhavesimilarmeaningsthatinsomecontextsareequivalent,butinotherstheyhaveadifferentconnotation. "livingbyhimself"tendstowardsmeaningwithoutanyoneinthesamehouse. Hefinishedcollegewherehesharedasmallapartmentwiththreeguysandfoundaloftapartmentjustafewblocksfromhisjob.Withhisparent'ssupport,He'slivingbyhimselfandprefersitthatway. "livingonhisown"tendstowardsmeaningwithoutrequiringsupport. Afterlivingwithhisparentsmostofhislifewithhismotherdoinghislaundryandcookinghismeals,hefinallymovedoutandstartedlivingonhisown.Hedoeshisownlaundryandcookshisownfood,buthesharesanapartmentwithaco-worker. Theseexamplesshowwhereonephraseworksbuttheotherdoesn't. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJan26,2015at20:05 answeredJan26,2015at17:45 equeseques 4,4151616silverbadges2323bronzebadges 2 4 +1forpointingoutthat"livingonyourown"doesn'talwaysmean"livingalone". – ColleenV Jan26,2015at17:47 1 The"byhimself"examplecouldbechangedsuchthathewasclearlynot"livingonhisown"[e.g.iftheparentswerepayingforcollegeinadditiontohisprivateroomandboard]. – supercat Jan26,2015at19:58 Addacomment  |  11 Ithinktheconnotationyouarelookingforreallydependsonthecontextofthesesentences.Neitheronehasastrongenoughconnotationonitsowntomaketheassumptionyouareaboutwhatitimplies. Forexample,compare: Helivesbyhimselfnow.Hecandowhathewantswhenhepleases.Thereisnoonetotellhimwhentoeat,whentosleep.Forthefirsttimeinhislife,hehasprivacyandhelovesit. with HiswifeleftinJanuary.Helivesbyhimselfnow.Forthefirstfewmonths,hesecretlycriedeverynight.Evennow,sometimeshecomeshometothecold,darkhouseandwonderswhereitallwentwrong. Thesentenceworksineithercontext.Likewise,livingonhisowncouldverywellbepositive: Shortlyafterhestartedwalkingasatoddler,hewasdiagnosedwithautism.Hisparentsweresurehe'dneverbeabletoliveindependently,butafteryearsofsuccessfultherapy,helivesonhisown.Theyaresoproudofhim. Thecontextisreallygoingtoaffecthowyouinterpreteitherofthesesentences. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJan26,2015at15:23 michellemichelle 2,2291010silverbadges1313bronzebadges 0 Addacomment  |  Youmustlogintoanswerthisquestion. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggeddifferencesentence-meaningsentence-choiceconnotations. FeaturedonMeta Electioncheck-in-Who'sinterestedinsteppinguptohelpbeingamoderator... 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