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Silver Gaia

(5,441 posts)
6. I think you misunderstood me, too.
Wed Jan 5, 2022, 11:38 AM
Jan 2022

Here's a complete quote:

The original “Sex and the City” was mostly Generation X, and “Girls” were millennials. Their trailblazer was “Golden Girls,” about older women sharing a midcentury home in Miami. But the stories all center on single women (never married, divorced or widowed) trying to get through the day.

The words in parentheses are meant to describe the types of single women in all these stories. In that light, think of the words "never married" as a term describing single women who have never married. That's one type. Other types of single women in these stories are divorced or widowed (those who were previously married). Had the writer written "divorced, widowed, or never married" to describe these types of single women, the meaning would have been clear.

As written, our brains want to use the word "never" as a modifier for all three of the words that follow, so "never married, never divorced, never widowed." But since we know that is not true, it becomes confusing. Thats why I said it confused me, too, at first. Then, I realized what was meant. So, I suggested that you think of the terms in reverse order. Had the writer reversed the terms, the intended use of "never" would have been much more clear. Like this:

The original “Sex and the City” was mostly Generation X, and “Girls” were millennials. Their trailblazer was “Golden Girls,” about older women sharing a midcentury home in Miami. But the stories all center on single women (divorced, widowed, or never married) trying to get through the day.

Written in this way, it is much easier to see that "never" only refers to the word married, not divorced and widowed as well.

A good copy editor should have caught that, but alas, far too few publications employ copy editors these days. (My daughter works as a copy editor. I teach, so I edit language for a living, too. This is a common lament we share.)

I hope that helps. ? I am just trying to be helpful.

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