Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today's topic is generic personal pronouns.. mas grammar i have been saying for a while in my classes that this rule will disappear and "someone left their book in the library" will become grammatically ok. it's fun to see someone else shares this opinion. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=21061#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=21061#Comments Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:14:03 GMT Robert grammar I know what Dr Smith is driving at when referring to a non-specific person e.g. "He who dares, wins" however what if you are referring to a character in a book for example whose gender is not apparent. I refuse to write "he/she" or "he or she" and even "they" sounds very clumsy. I've resorted to choosing either he or she and adding a footnote at the beginning of the essay - I've never been picked up for it by a lecturer yet. For those who say it doesn't matter: it isn't your opinion that counts it is the person who is reading the text whoever he/she may be!! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=20570#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=20570#Comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:32:41 GMT Karen grammar Use "he" and "him." Done. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=20520#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=20520#Comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:44:46 GMT Karen grammar As the daughter of an English teacher, I am appalled at the use of 'they' (clearly plural) with a singular antecedent. As a composition teacher and business writing instructor, I taught my students to do the following: 1. Rewrite to avoid the problem.(Everyone must bring the books to class.) 2. Make the sentence plural (All students must bring their books to class.) 3. Use "he or she" but only in moderation (that means only one such construction in a sentence)(A student must bring his or her books to class.) 4. Alternate by using feminine pronouns in one paragraph and masculine in the next. The argument that "they" has been used as a singular pronoun by writers in the past does not make it correct. Most writers of literature take liberties with correct usage to create an effect. Sometimes it works beautifully (to boldly go where no man has gone before)(and Star Trek used the sexist term; 'human' would have sounded weird at the time). http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=20117#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=20117#Comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:14:51 GMT Ron V. grammar I'm afraid I'm going off topic here, although my subject still has to do with male/female issues. My concern has to do with one of your opening sentences: "To be clear, the problem Nolan is talking about is that nobody really knows what pronoun to use anymore when talking about a person of unknown gender." My concern is that you use that wishy-washy word "gender" when you really mean "sex". The word gender has to do with grammar and not with maleness or femaleness. In French, for example, the word for "beard" and the word for "moustache" have the feminine gender. The word for breasts (The Grand Tetons is an American range of mountains) is masculine. In Russian, the word for "uncle" has the feminine gender. So, the original meaning of the word, "gender" is only very loosely associated with "sex". The word "sex" has been made non-PC by those who wish to expunge from the language any word that could possibly have a smutty meaning. I notice that nearly all your responders use the word “gender”, so I know I am fighting an uphill battle, but anyone who has the courage to write “he”, rather than “he/she” should have the courage to place accuracy before non-PC. Love your stuff. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=19579#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=19579#Comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:12:36 GMT sarvesh kumar grammar I undarstand that without proper knowledge it is very diffcult to difine what is corract but we can say that grammar is basi to bring since http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=18808#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=18808#Comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:31:17 GMT Omorose Panya grammar It is entirely amusing how so many persons are going crazy over this. Really, now, it is not a big deal. "Correct usage" changes over time---that's a fact. We're all arguing over this now. Watch it not even matter (even to the Grammar Police) in a few years. Considering the current state of the world, this just seems entirely mundane. I'm glad you're suggesting people be aware of but not so butt-tight about grammar. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=18501#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=18501#Comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:56:09 GMT Espen grammar I found a similar article on the topic that explains why a new pronoun can't just be added to English. http://www.brighthub.com/hubfolio/heather-marie-kosur/articles/38523.aspx I highly suggest you read this in addition to what Grammar Girl wrote. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=17435#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=17435#Comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:28:51 GMT Kathy S. grammar So what you're saying is: if you don't want to do it correctly, dumb it down until the rest of us submit? I don't think so. Gender isn't the real issue - it's singulars and plurals. Shame on you for caving; how can you market yourself as an expert if you're willing to succumb to those who find it too cumbersome to use the language correctly? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=17343#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=17343#Comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:55:10 GMT saxtrain grammar Why oh why have some many of us, even in our language, kowtowed to a bunch of stupid female Bolsheviks, (I refuse to call them women) most of them too ugly to catch a man, and therefore out to change the world to their Leninist likings. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=16960#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx?commentid=16960#Comments Thu, 14 May 2009 01:14:06 GMT Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:14:03 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us