Guest AussieHsMum Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 I am in a musical theatre production. At the end, four couples (including myself and the sheriff) get married. As the mayor, I get to shout out the ceremonial words. The next line in the script reads, 'I now pronounce us husband and wives.. kiss 'em girls!' husband and wives? or husbands and wives? or pronounce us all husband and wife? or something else? nothing quite seems to sit right! Thankyou :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 I vote for husbands and wives. The script sounds like one man wih many brides. Pronounce us all husband and wife seems like one union. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolt. Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 I think the problem is with the "us" -- the sentence makes no sense because it actually doesn't make sense, not because the grammar is bad. The eight of "us" are nothing at all. Each of "us" will be starting new wonderful relationships with one of the others, but none of us are forming any kind of relationships with the 6 other people. Therefore it's difficult information to put into one sentence. It's even worse because it includes the speaker in the group. I could go with, "I now pronounce each of us a husband or a wife!" -- which makes sense, but it has no ring to it. I'd probably go with, "I now pronounce us all husbands and wives!" It's still a problem, but it's got the right feel, and it's a drama. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Just use husbands and wives--don't overthink it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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