CHAPTER XII.
THE INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS.
[§ 463]. Different nations have different methods of expressing indeterminate propositions.
Sometimes it is by the use of the passive voice. This is the common method in Latin and Greek, and is also current in English—dicitur, λέγεται, it is said.
Sometimes the verb is reflective—si dice = it says itself, Italian.
Sometimes the plural pronoun of the third person is used. This also is an English locution—they say = the world at large says.
Finally, the use of some word = man is a common indeterminate expression.
The word man has an indeterminate sense in the Modern German; as man sagt = they say.