I pay a lot of attention to the word people speak. But I devote particular energy to pronouns. When does a person say "I," when does that same person say "we," when does that same person say "you"? I learn a great deal from this data. And the same goes for possessive pronouns. Sometimes people use them to give me what isn't properly mine. Sometimes they use them to take what should be. I'm keeping a record.
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