Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
may not be very synonymous sometimes; there's the problem; some fit well somewhere, others better elsewhere; that's why I asked: to be sure.
"for [possessive] part" may be the closest in meaning to "in [possessive] turn"
I have to disagree with those who said that the use of the possessive within "in turn" is a result of bad English, and that because, without the use of a possessive, "in turn" could mean "in contrast/conversly" (http://thesaurus.com/browse/in turn), i.e. John gave up smoking, Jane, in contrast, did not give up cosmetics.
It's in just that context that I suggested "dutifully". It seemed to me to be an everyday conversation between a couple. If I'd known we were talking about Formal Logic, I'd have had a totally different perspective.
Anyway, c'est la vie, what's done is done, water under the bridge and various other platitudes :-)
It's a shame you didn't tell us what you needed right from the beginning! "They agreed they needed to save money: John gave up smoking and Jane did her bit by renouncing cosmetics." Is just one of the many options that comes to mind.
well, "in his turn" is a literal translation and I thought that maybe native users of English would be more able to provide me with a synonymous expression; "for his part" is not bad, it's good, but I thought that there may be other variants there, more appropriate than mine, and I was curious to find out; I felt/feared that mine wasn't English enough (maybe because of fatigue)
because it represents a translation
Nonetheless, in my context "in his turn" is not aimed at linking the two parties as if one is the cause of the other, but the two parties between themselves as being mutually affected by a cause; i.e. Jane didn't do away with make-up because John gave up smoking, but because they both previously agreed to cut on spending.
Sorry - I am perhaps a bit oversensitive with this
17:15 Jan 28
I have encountered people who trudge up all kinds of nonsense from the past to justify some bizarre vocab or syntax which nobody would ever use ever nowadays...so I might have overreacted....that's the problem with repressing rage :-)
I agree with those who say that the fact it's a translation changes a lot. "In her turn" might be a faithful/literal translation, but it might not best represent the sentiment behind the words and it's hard for us, non-Romanian speakers to comment or guess at a synonym of a translation from a language we don't speak.
I, for one, would have come up with a different suggestion and maybe we could have avoided the heated discussion that took place. I suppose you were thinking along the line of the truth tables: John did this, so Jane did that, etc.
It's a good idea to give as much context as possible when posting. In this case we mightn't have come up with anything different but, conceivably, knowing it was Philosophy and a translation from Romanian could have made a big difference.
Well, thank you everyone for the effort muscled into striving to provide me with a synonym to this phrase, but I have to say that, up to this point, in the context that concerns me (i.e. philosophical), I feel that none of the answers given is truly able to represent a viable alternative to the original phrase, as it represents a translation made by me to a Romanian text. Thus, I feel that "in his turn" remains the most appropriate translation. Not that "for his part" wouldn't be a good synonym. It's just that I prefer a static equivalent, a perfect match to the original. It just crossed my mind that there may be there a better way of saying it, but I guess not. That's the trouble with things like philosophy maybe.
The second ref. you quote is rather misleading and won't I think help asker very much here, since it uses 'in his turn around' in a quite different way that is not relevant to (or synonymous with) the expression we are discussing here.
I was just making the point that, if it's used by recognized authors, it can't be really called "wrong". There are many examples of modern usage by less-well known contemporaries - just Google e.g. https://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q="...
I don't think we should dismiss examples of usage merely because they go back a bit — after all, everything that can be found on the 'Net is inevitably going to be older, simply because of the copyright; but that's not proof that modern usage does not exist, and the mere fact that you don't happen to be familiar with it isn't either — all depends on the style of the particular authors you happen to read. It may not be the commonest usage — I don't think there's any debate about that — but I think it would be sad to write it off as 'old hat' and no longer current.
Maybe it's geographical, maybe it's generational, but I much prefer "in turn"....to me "in his/her turn" makes me stop for a second.
In addition,.......
I've never undertstood the practice of invoking 19th century authors for examples of usage. (Huxley & Beckett aren't exactly contemporary either). Language moves on, and sometimes rather quickly. On the whole, to use the writing of someone who lived 100/150 years ago as a model for modern usage is folly (in my opinion).
I can only echo what DL and others have already said: 'in [possessive] turn' is a common enough construction, I don't think one can say it is poor English — there are certainly many, many examples of it to be found out there on the Web, some by ordinary writers, some by well-known and respected authors.
It's used for emphasis: one could say "he gave up cigarettes and she gave up make-up" — that would tend to place the emphasis on what it was they had given up.
"he gave up cigarettes and she in turn gave up make-up"
slightly emphasizes the sequential nature of it.
"he gave up cigarettes and she in her turn gave up make-up"
tends to emphasize rather the tit-for-tat nature of the deal, the element of duty; in return for his action, she decided to give soemthing up too.
Jane Austin: "Never, madam," cried he, affronted, in his turn: never, I assure you."
"Mrs. Price, in her turn, was injured and angry;..."
Samuel Beckett: "As when others would too in their turn and leave him till he too in his turn. "
Aldous Huxley: ""Well, does there?" questioned the Controller in his turn."
Mary Shelley: "This, to my mother, was more than a duty; it was a necessity, a passion -- remembering what she had suffered, and how she had been relieved -- for her to act in her turn the guardian angel to the afflicted."
W.B. Yeats: "He, too, has been changed in his turn, Transformed utterly: A terrible beauty is born."
Since when? Not where I come from! Why am angry with the grading of another person is the fact that other words were requested, not so much the use of "his/her". It does not constitute a logical reason for disagreement. In fact, I would rather not participate in ProZ anymore! The last remark is I will block my answer, as this is ridiculous. Thanks.
in turn - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
idioms.thefreedictionary.com/in+turn
Ethan had imagined that his allusion might open the way to the accepted pleasantries, and these perhaps in turn to a harmless caress, if only a mere touch on ..
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +8