I read the following sentence:
All he needs is a hug, a shoulder to cry on, a friendly touch, and an ear that listens.
I think the subject of the verb "listens" should be somebody but not something. Is "an ear that listens" commonly used?
grammaticality
I read the following sentence:
All he needs is a hug, a shoulder to cry on, a friendly touch, and an ear that listens.
I think the subject of the verb "listens" should be somebody but not something. Is "an ear that listens" commonly used?
Best Answer
As @snailboat pointed out, ears that listen is an example of synecdoche: a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole of something, or vice versa. In this case, ear (a part of a person) is used instead of person; this usage is similar to saying the law instead of the police, or the church instead of the congregation.
Yes, you can say an ear that listens or a shoulder to cry on; nobody will take it literally, and think you want to talk to an ear, or cry on a shoulder, detached from the rest of a body.
As for being commonly used, the Corpus of Web-based Global English finds three sentences containing ear that listens, and three sentences containing ears that listen. This doesn't mean the phrase would not be understood.