A friend of mine is reading a English textbook in which a girl thanks her mother. In the letter, one of the things she said was "thank you for teaching me how to be a good man".
The English textbook isn't very good – it has lots of spelling mistakes, for example. But my friend wants to know what the textbook should have said instead.
Would you say "how to be a good woman"? Or "how to be a good person"? What would be more normal English?
The sentence was in the following paragraph:
Mom, I know I have never written even a note to express my thanks to
you before. But today, on this special occasion, I just want to tell
you loudly [sic]: I love you mom! Thank you so much for not only
giving birth to my [sic], but also teaching me how to be a good man.
Thank you, mom, for all what [sic] you have done for me, for the whole
family.
Best Answer
"How to be a good woman" seems fine, but for some reason it hurts my ear (though I'm not a native speaker). In addition to Novice's answer, I would like to just point out two more things: