Singular they

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Singular them is the English usage of the pronoun them or the inflection form or its derivatives, them , they are , their own , and themselves (or themselves ), as epicene single pronouns (gender neutral). This usually happens with an indeterminate gender antecedent, as in sentences such as:

• " Someone left the umbrella in the office. Will they collect it?"
• " Patients should be notified at the beginning of how much they will be required to pay."
• "But a journalist should not be forced to reveal their sources ."

The single them has appeared in the 14th century. Although commonly used in everyday English, it has been the target of criticism since the late 19th century. Its use in formal English has increased with a tendency toward gender-inclusive language.

Video Singular they

Forms of inflection and pronouns

"Singular them " allows a single antecedent, used with the same verb form (plural) as their plural, and has the same form that is indexed as plural them (ie < i> them , them and them ), except that in the reflexive form, "themselves" is sometimes used rather than "themselves".

Self is a common usage from the 14th to 16th centuries. Its use has increased since the 1970s or 1980s, although it is sometimes still classified as a "minority form". In 2002, Payne and Huddleston, in The Cambridge Grammar of English , called their use in standard dialects "rare and acceptable only by a small number of speakers" but "possibly increased by their acceptance as a single pronoun ". This is useful when referring to one person with an indeterminate sex, where the plural itself may appear unsuitable, as in:

• "This is not an actor pretending to be Reagan or Thatcher, that is, in a strange form, his own person." - Hislop (1984); quoted in Fowler's

Region preference

The Government of Canada recommends themselves as their sole reflexive form for use in Canada federal legislative text and advises against using themselves , but > self also found:

• "Where the bene fi t recipient under section 4 is absent from Canada..." - War Veterans Responsibility Act , section 14.
• "... the following conditions apply to a person or group of persons in respect of who the deposit is required:... to present themselves or themselves at the time and place that the officer or the Immigration Division requires them to fulfill the obligations imposed on them based on the Act. "- Immigration and Refugee Protection Rules , section 48.

Maps Singular they

Usage

They with single antecedents returned to Central England in the 14th century, and remained in common use for centuries irrespective of their demands by traditional grammar beginning in the late 18th century.

Unclear oral English indicates almost universal single use of them them . An examination by JÃÆ'¼rgen Gerner of the British National Corpus published in 1998 found that English speakers regardless of their single, social, age, gender, or territory status are much more frequent than gender-neutral he or other options.

Older usage

Singular them found in the writings of many respected authors. Here are some examples, arranged chronologically:

• "Eche on in ÃÆ'¾er craft ys wijs." ("Each in their skill is wise.") - The Wycliffite Bible Ecclus.38.35 (1382)
• "And who is the fyndeth hym of error, They wool appear..." Chaucer, "The Pardoner's Prologue" from The Canterbury Tales (ca. 1400) quoted by Jespersen and from there in < Merriam-Webster Use of English .
• " Eche of themm sholde... make theymselfe redy." - Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon (c.Ã, 1489)
• "If a person is born of a... grim temperament... they can not hold it." - Chesterfield, Letter to his son (1759); quoted in Fowler .
• " Someone can not help their birth them." - Rosalind in W. M. Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848); quoted from OED by Curzan in Gender Shifts in History of English .
• "Now no one does anything well that they can not help do" - Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive (1866); quoted in Fowler .
• " No one in their senses will give six strengths to the strength of such a promissory note." - Bagehot, Liberal Magazine (1910); quoted in Fowler .

Along with them , it is acceptable to use the pronoun he to refer to an infinite person of any gender, as in the following:

• "If anyone does not know it, it is his own fault." - George Washington Cable, Old Creole Days (1879); quoted by Baskervill.
• " Everyone changing this page has its own little diary." - W. M. Thackeray, In Lett's Diary (1869); quoted in Baskervill, An English Grammar .
• "Suppose that life and luck all of us will depend on he win or lose in the game of chess." - Thomas Huxley, A Liberal Education (1868); quoted by Baskervill.
• " No one will be arbitrarily deprived of citizenship or denied the right to change citizenship ." - Article 15, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

Such use is sometimes found but has lost acceptance in most contexts.

Generic recipe he

The highly masculine male pronouns he are often used in English in a non-gender sense as an alternative way of referring to a person. The earliest explicit recommendations known to a grammarian to use generic them rather than them in formal English were the mid-18th century from Ann Fisher New Grammar statement that "The Masculine Person answers the Common Name , which understands both Male and Women

The nineteenth-century grammarians insisted that he was a neutral gender pronoun on the basis of a numerical agreement, while rejecting "him" as clumsy, and it was widely adopted: for example in 1850, the British Parliament ratified the law stipulating that, when used in Parliamentary action "words that import the masculine gender should be considered and taken to include women". Baskervill and Sewell mentioned the general use of their singular in their English Grammar for High School Usage, Academy and Classes in 1895, but preferred the generic he on the basis of agreement number:

When the antecedent includes both masculine and feminine, or distributive words, takes everyone, the preferred method is to place the following pronouns in a single, masculine form... Another way of referring to the distributive substitute antecedents [eg everyone ] or a noun modified by distributive adjectives [e.g. every], is to use the plural of the following pronoun. This is not considered the best use, logical analysis requires a single pronoun in every case; but its construction is often found when its predecessor includes or implies both sexes . Masculine does not really represent feminine antecedents, and its expression is avoided as cumbrous.

Baskervill provides a number of examples from recognized authors using their single , including:

• " Everyone should judge by their own feelings ." - Lord Byron, Werner (1823), cited as " Everyone should judge their own [sic] feelings."
• "If Doctors are satisfied to take my dining table as any body in their senses will do..." - Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1814);
• "If that part deserves a comment, any consideration of Christian will make it own as they go..." - Daniel Defoe, < i> The Family Instructor (1816);
• " Everyone's happiness depends in part on the respect they meet in the world..." - William Paley,

It has been argued that the real motivation for promoting "generics" is the androcentric world view, with human default sex being male - and the default gender therefore becomes masculine. There is some evidence for this: Wilson wrote in 1560:

• "... Ã, let's preserve the order of nature, and arrange men in the presence of women for the sake of modesty".Ã, - Wilson, Arte of Rhetorique (1560);
• "...... the more precious is preferred and predetermined.As a man is set before a woman..." Ã, - Wilson, Arte of Rhetorique (1560);

and Poole wrote in 1646

• "Maskulin's gender is more valuable than Feminine." Ã, - Poole The English Accidence (1646); cited by Bodine

Regardless of the ongoing effort on the part of educators to ban their single them support him , this advice is largely ignored; even the authors of that period continue to use them (though their prohibitions may have been observed more by American writers). The supposedly gender-neutral use of he remained accepted until at least the 1960s, although some of his use were later criticized as awkward or ridiculous, for example when referring to:

• indefinite persons of both sexes:
  • "the ideal that every boy and girl should be so equipped that he will not be defective in his struggle for social progress..." - CC Fries , American English Grammar , (1940).
• known person of both sexes:
  • "She and Louis have the game - who can find the ugliest picture of herself." - Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin (1971)

Contemporary uses he to refer to general or unlimited antecedents

He is still occasionally found in contemporary writing when referring to generic or indeterminate antecedents. In some cases, it is clear from the situation that potentially referenced people tend to be men, as in

• "The patient should be informed of his therapeutic options." - in text about prostate cancer (2004)

In some cases the introduction may refer to people who are just maybe men or traditional jobs are considered as men:

• "It will not be as if the only astronaut will be completely by himself ." (2008)
• "The kitchen table problem... is that the next president can actually do something if he really cares about it, more likely if he cares!" - Hillary Rodham Clinton (2008)

In other situations, antecedents may refer to:

• indefinite persons of both sexes:
  • "Now, a writer is entitled to have Roget on his desk ." - Barzun (1985); quoted in Merriam-Webster's Merriam-Webster Quick Reason Dictionary
  • "Members of Parliament must always live in their territory."

In 2010, Choy and Clark still recommend the generic use of he "in a formal speech or writing":

"... Ã, when indefinite pronouns are used as antecedents, they require a single subject, object, and pronouns property..."

• " Everyone does what he loves"

"In informal oral English, the hourly pronoun is often used with indefinite pronouns, but this construction is not generally considered appropriate in formal speech or writing.

Informal: Someone should let you borrow their books.

Formal: Someone should let you borrow his book . "

Ã, - Choy, Basic Grammar and Usage

In 2015, the Dictionary of Modern English Fowler called it "an outdated usage he to mean 'anyone ' ", stating

"From the beginning until about the 1960s, it was no doubt acceptable to use the pronoun he (and he , own , his ) with unlimited references to show a person of both sexes, especially after indefinite words and determinators like anyone , Ã,... < i> every , etc., after gender neutral nouns such as people ... [but] alternative devices are now commonly used.When pronouns or gender-neutral determinants are needed, the choice is usually adopted is their plural them , them , own , etc., or he ( his >, etc.) "

Ã, - Fowler Modern English Dictionary

By 2016, calls the generic use of masculine pronouns "a traditional view, now widely attacked as a sexist".

Trend to gender-neutral language

The earliest known effort to create gender-neutral pronouns began in 1792, when Scottish economist James Anderson advocated indefinite "ou".

In 1808, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote:

"whether we should not, should not, to use a neutral, relative or representative pronoun, for the word 'Person', where it has been used in the meaning of homo , mensch , or no common gender nouns, in order to avoid men or a particular woman, or to express sex indifferently If this is incorrect in the syntax, the entire use of the word People is missing in some instances, or is only preserved by some strange and rigid positions of words, such as' not letting the person awake where the offense has been given '- no -' where he has offended. '' In my [judgment] both the special intent and general etymon 'People' in such a sentence fully endorse its use and which is not him he, he, who, who. "

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, as written in Anima PoetÃÆ'Â|: From the Unpublished Book of Samuel Samuel Coleridge , edited by Ernest Coleridge (1895), p. 190.

In the second half of the 20th century, people expressed growing concern over the use of sexually oriented and male-oriented languages. This includes the use of man criticism as a general term for including men and women and the use of he to refer to humans, regardless of gender (social gender).

It is said that he can not be sensibly used as a generic pronoun it is understood to include both men and women. William Safire in his On Language column at The New York Times approved his generic use , mentions the mnemonic phrase "men embraced women". C. Badendyck from Brooklyn wrote to the New York Times in reply:

"The average American needs a small routine getting ready to work, when he shaves or dries his hair or pulls a panty hose, he loosens himself with small steps into the day's demands."

In 1980, the movement gained widespread support, and many organizations, including most publishers, have issued guidance on the use of gender-neutral language.

Contemporary usage

The use of generic masculine nouns and pronouns in written and spoken languages ​​has declined since the 1970s. In the spontaneous speech corpus collected in Australia in the 1990s, their single has become the most commonly used generic pronoun. Similarly, a 2002 study looking at the corpus of American and English newspapers indicated a preference for them used (rather than generic he or he ) as a word replace a single epicent.

Increased single use them may be owed in part due to an increased desire for gender-neutral languages. The solution in formal writing is often to write "him", or something similar, but this is often considered awkward or too politically correct, especially when used overload. In 2016, the American Speech journal published a study by Darren K. LaScotte who investigated the pronouns used by native English speakers in informal written responses to questions about an unspecified gender subject, found that 68% of the study participants chose their single to refer to the antecedents. Some participants noted that they found construction as "he" inadequate because they did not include people who did not identify as male or female.

In contemporary use, their singular is used to refer to an unclear predecessor, for example when the gender or preliminary figures are uncertain or the gender of the real-word entity referred to is unknown or not revealed.. Examples include different types of usage.

Use with pronounce

Single antecedents can be pronouns like someone , anyone , or everyone , or pronouns like that :

• with someone or someone :
  • "I feel that if someone is not doing their work they should be called for their attention ." - An American newspaper (1984); quoted by Fowler.
• with anyone or anyone :
  • "If anyone tells you that America's best days are behind it, then they ' re-look for the wrong way. " President George Bush, 1991 State of the Union Address; quoted by Garner
  • " Anyone can set up themselves as an acupuncturist." - Sarah Lonsdale "The Acupuncture Reputable Acupturing Practice". Observer December 15, 1991, as quoted by Garner
  • "If someone calls, retrieve their name and asks them to call again later." Example given by Swan
• with nothing or nothing :
  • " Nothing that they lift." An example given by Huddleston et.al.
  • " Nothing feels they have been misled." An example given by Huddleston et.al.
• even when gender is known or assumed:
  • "Under the new rules to be announced tomorrow, it would be illegal for anyone to donate organs for their wives." Ballantyne, "Transplantation Jury to Vet Live Donors", Sunday Times (London) 25 3. 1990, as quoted by Garner
• with query as antecedent:
  • " Who thinks they can solve the problem?". An example given by Huddleston et al. The Cambridge Grammar of English .
• with everyone , everyone etc.:
  • " Everyone promises to behave yourself ." An example given by Huddleston et.al.

Notional or pairwise diversity

Although the pronouns all , everyone , are missing , and nothing is singular and is used in a single form. verbs, this pronoun has an "implied plurality" somewhat similar to the implied plurality of collective nouns or groups like the crowd team , and in some sentences where its predecessor is wrong one of these "plural implied" replaces, they can not be substituted by the generic he , denotes "notional plural" rather than the "dependent variable" interpretation. (See Ã, § Grammatical and logical analysis, below.) Unlike phrases involving multiple and singular relationships like them like

• " Everyone loves their mother ."
• "'I never got into that football,' he said after everyone went back to their seats.
• " Everyone doubts themselves / themselves at one time or another."

There are instances where preliminary pronouns (like everyone ) can refer to the collective, without the necessary implications of pairing relationships. This is a plural example of them :

• "At first everyone in the room was singing, then they started laughing." An example given by Kolln.
• " Everyone is crouched behind the furniture to surprise me, and they try, but I already know they're there." Example given by Garner.
• " Nothing too late, are they ?" Example given by Swan.

Its obvious because they are not working with generic he or she:

• * "At first everyone in the room was singing, then he started laughing." An example given by Kolln.
• * " Everyone is crouched behind the furniture to surprise me, and he tried, but I already knew he was there."
• * " Nothing too late, is he he ?"

In addition, for this "notional plural" case, it would not be appropriate to use themselves instead of own as in:

• * " Everyone is crouched behind the furniture to surprise me, but they are shocked themselves."

Use with generic word as antecedent

Singular antecedents can also be nouns like people , patients , or students :

• with nouns (eg persons, students, patients) used generally (eg in the sense that each member of that class or a particular member is unknown to the speaker or author)
  • "... Ã, if children have citizenship or citizenship from another country, they may lose this when they earn British passport. "From the British passport application form; quoted by Swan.
  • "cognitive dissonance:" a concept in psychology that describes the conditions in which a person is in conflict with their behavior behavior . â € - Macmillan Dictionary Business and management (1988), as quoted by Garner.
  • "The starting point is to give more support to the corporate secretary . They are, or should be, aware of the secret deliberations and secret of the board and company. - Ronald Severn." Protecting the Bird of Secretaries. "Financial Times, January 6, 1992, quoted by Garner.
• with class representation previously mentioned in a single form
  • "I have to decide: Is this this person irrational or is he right? Of course, they are often right." - Robert Burchfield in US News & amp; World Report August 11, 1986, as quoted in Merriam-Webster's Merriam-Webster Quick Reference Dictionary
• Even when referring to a class of people who are known for sex, they are sometimes used.
  • "Sizing technology works through iPhone apps To use it, a woman must take two pictures of herself while wearing a tight boss in front of the mirror." Shane Hickey, "Innovators: promising a perfect bra ", The Guardian January 10, 2015, as quoted by Mark Liberman on" Language Logs "
  • "I swear again when I talk to a boy, because I'm not afraid to surprise them ". From the interview.
  • " No mother should be forced to testify against their children them ".
• They can also be used with antecedents of mixed gender:
  • "Let me know if your father or mother changed their mind ." An example given by Huddleston et al.
  • "Either husband or wife has sworn false own ." Here themselves may be acceptable to some people, themselves seems less acceptable, and itself is unacceptable. An example given by Huddleston et al.
• Even for people known from known genders, them can be used to ignore or keep your gender a secret.
  • "I have a friend in Paris, and they have to go to the hospital for a month." (definite, unidentified person)
• The word itself is also sometimes used when the predecessor is known or believed to be one person:
  • " Someone has apparently locked themselves in the office." [acceptable questionable]

Use for specific people known

Individuals known to be referred to as them if the individual's gender is not known by the speaker, or if the individual is not binary or gender, considers the male or female pronouns inappropriate and prefer them /i> instead. Some social media apps allow account holders to choose to identify their gender using any of the various non-binary or gender options, such as gender fluid , agender , or bigender , and to specify a pronoun, including them / them , that they want to use when referring to them. Although their "single " has long been used with antecedents like everyone or generic people of unknown gender, this usage, which may be chosen by an individual, a new -new recently.

The single them in the sense of "a neutral gender pronoun for a known person, as a non-binary identifier" selected by the American Dialect Society as Word of the Year 2015. In 2016, the American Dialect Society wrote:

"While editors are increasingly moving to accept their singles when used in public mode, voters in the Word of the Year process opt for newer usage as identifiers for someone who might identify as non-binary in terms of gender."

The vote follows the previous year's approval of this usage by the Style Guide's The Washington Post , when Bill Walsh, editor of Posting ' says that singular they are "the only reasonable solution for English that is less than a gender-neutral third person pronoun".

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Accepting and prescriptive guide

Although both generic he and their generics have a long history of use, and both are still in use, both are also systematically avoided by certain groups. Guidance styles that avoid expressing preferences for both approaches sometimes recommend reshaping problem sentences, for example replacing generic expressions with plural forms to avoid criticism from either party.

Their single use may be more acceptable in the UK than American English, or vice versa.

Guide to using the English-American style guide

The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing by Casey Miller and Kate Swift was first published in the United States. Due to differences in culture and vocabulary, separate English editions have since been published. These authors accept or recommend the sole use of them not only in cases where there is an element of semantic plurality expressed by a word like "everyone" but also where an uncertain person > called, citing examples of such usage even in formal speeches. For example, they quote Ronald Reagan:

• "You have to identify the people who have the power to hire you and show them how your skills can help them with them issue. "

In addition to using their singular , they - and others - also suggest a number of ways to avoid "pronouns issues" in gender-neutral writing. One strategy is to rewrite the phrase to use the plural them . For example, in a newspaper story

• "Each candidate [two men and six women] must write their description..."

can be converted into

• "The candidates should write a description of themselves..."

Another strategy is to remove the pronoun; so

• "A disabled child may be able to feed and dress himself."

be

• "A disabled child may eat and dress without help."

Other methods of avoiding gender preferences include reshaping sentences to use "one", or (for infants) "the".

Guide to using American style guides

Garner's Modern American Usage (2003) recommends careful use of their singular , and avoidance where possible because their use is stigmatized.

• "If people's disapproval of disagreements can be avoided, avoid them, if unavoidable, be careful because some people will doubt your literacy..."

Garner points out that their single use is more acceptable in English English:

• "AmE speakers reject this development more than BrE speakers, where the uncertain they are more or less standard."

and apparently regretted the rejection by the American language community:

• "That makes a lot of polarized American teeth an unfortunate barrier to what's promised as the ultimate solution to this problem."

He considers the tendency to use single them with anteseden like everyone , anyone and someone as inevitable:

"Disturbing though these developments may be pure, they can not be altered, and nothing the linguist says will change it."

In the 14th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, the University of Chicago Press explicitly recommends using their single them and them , noting the "Resurrection" from this use and to quote "noble use by writers such as Addison, Austen, Chesterfield, Fielding, Ruskin, Scott, and Shakespeare." From the 15th edition (2003), this was changed. In Chapter 5 of the 16th edition (2010), now written by Bryan A. Garner, the recommendations are:

" Their single A single antecedent requires a single referral word, since he is no longer accepted as a generic pronoun people who are associated with a person of the sex, have become common in speeches and in informal writing to substitute the third person plural them , them , them and own , and that is not a single standard own .Although this usage is accepted in a casual context, it is still considered unofficial in formal writing. "

and

" gender bias Ã,... On the one hand, it is unacceptable to many readers to make sense to use a generic masculine pronoun ( he in reference to no particular person.On the other hand, it is unacceptable to many readers (often different readers) whether to use non-traditional gimmicks to avoid generic masculine (by using him/her i > or s/he , for example) or using them as a kind of single pronouns.However, credibility is lost with some readers. "

According to the American Heritage Book of English Usage, many Americans avoid their use to refer to a single antecedent to respect traditional "grammar" rules, despite their sole use of by modern note writers and mainstream publications:

• "Most Usage Panels reject the use of them with a single antecedent as non-mathematical, even in informal conversation Eighty-two percent finds a sentence Ordinary students in the Program take about six years to complete their course work... unacceptable panel members seem to make a distinction between single nouns, such as ordinary students and someone , and pronouns that are grammatically singular but multiple semantic, such as anyone , everyone and none .The sixty-four percent of panel members accept the sentence None want to work for that wage again, right? "

The Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association explicitly rejects their sole use and and gives the following example as "wrong" use:

• " Both the highest scorers and bottom goalscorers in the group have no qualms about their competence ."

while also specifically taking a generic position he is unacceptable. APA recommends using them , reorder sentences with plural subjects to allow correct use of them , or just rewrite the sentence to avoid problems with gender or numbers.

Strunk & amp; White, the authors of The Elements of Style , found their use with unacceptable single antecedents:

" Them. Not used when the antecedents are distributive expressions, such as each , each . all , everyone , many men Use single pronouns.Ã,... The same error is the use of multiple pronouns with which antecedents only , anyone , someone , someone ... Use he as the pronoun for the word objects that embrace both sexes are simple and practical conventions rooted in the beginning of English. "

Their assessment, in 1979, was

" She has lost all the manners suggestion in this state.... It has no degrading connotation; it's never been wrong."

Joseph M. Williams, who wrote numerous books on writing with "clarity and grace," addresses the advantages and disadvantages of solutions when faced with the problem of referring to his predecessors such as someone , everyone , no one or a no-gender noun and stated that this will continue to be a problem for some time. He "assumed [s] that in the end we would accept their plural as the correct single form" but stated that currently "formal use requires a single pronoun".

According to The Little, Brown Handbook, most experts - and some teachers and employers - find their singular use unacceptable:

"Although some experts accept them , them , and them with single unlimited words, most are not, and many teachers and employers assume the plural is wrong.To be safe, work for agreement between single indefinite words and pronouns referring to them... "

It recommends using he or avoids problems with rewriting sentences to use plural or eliminate pronouns.

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) states that the singles they are wrong:

"Remember: the words all , anyone , anyone , every not , none , someone , someone , etc. is single and takes a single pronoun. "

The Washington Post style manual, by 2015, recommends trying to "write about the problem, perhaps by converting singulars into plural, before using their singular as a last resort" and specifically allowing their use for "non-gendered people".

The Associated Press Stylebook, by 2017, recommends: "They/they/they can be accepted in restricted cases as singular and/or gender neutral, when alternative words are too awkward or awkward, but rewriting is usually possible and always better. "

English style guide usage guide

In the first edition of the Modern English Dictionary (published in 1926), generic use of he is recommended. It is stated that single them is not approved by grammar experts. Many examples of its use by eminent authors of the past are given, but it is stated that "some good modern writers will scoff at [grammarians] so conspicuously as Fielding and Thackeray", whose phrases are described as having "ancient voices".

The second edition of Fowler's, Fowler's Modern English Usage (edited by Sir Ernest Gowers and published in 1965) continues to recommend the generic use of he ; their single use is called "popular solution", which "sets the human teeth of literature at the edge". It is stated that single them is not approved by grammar experts but is common in colloquial. Many examples of its use by eminent authors are given, but it is stated that "some good modern authors will scoff at [grammarians] so conspicuously as Fielding and Thackeray".

According to the third edition of Fowler's ( The New Fowler's Modern English Usage , edited by Burchfield and published in 1996) their single has not only been widely used by good writers for centuries. , but is now generally accepted, except by some conservative grammarians, including Fowler in 1926, which ignores evidence:

"For centuries, the authors of the stand have used their them , them , and them with anaphoric references to single nouns or pronouns, and this practice continues in 20C, to the point that, the traditional grammar on the side, such constructions are barely noticed anymore or are not widely felt to lie in the forbidden zone. Fowler (1926) dislikes exercise... and gives a number of instances of 'error' not given... The evidence presented in OED points in the other direction altogether. "

The Complete Plain Words was originally written in 1948 by Sir Ernest Gowers, a civil servant, in an attempt by British civil servants to improve "official English". The second edition, edited by Sir Bruce Fraser, was published in 1973. It refers to them or them as "the equivalent of a single pronoun of common sex" as "common in speech and is not known in serious writing "but" is stigmatized by grammars because its use is grammatically untenable.The advice of the book for "author author" (civil servants) is to avoid its use and not be tempted by "greater comfort", though " the ultimate need may force him into the accepted idiom category ".

The new edition of Plain Words revised and updated by the grandson of Sir Ernest Gowers, Rebecca Gowers, was published in 2014. It notes that their only them and them has become much wider since Gowers original remarks, but still feels "safer" to treat sentences such as' Readers can throw their books sideways' incorrectly 'in formal English while refusing even more powerful sentences as

• "There should be an opportunity for each boy or girl to go as far as his ability and determination will take him."

The Times Style and Usage Guide (first published in 2003 by The Times of London) recommends avoiding sentences like

• "If someone loves animals, they must protect them."

using plural constructs:

• "If people like animals, they have to protect them."

The Cambridge Guide for the Use of English (2004) found their singular "mediocre":

"For those who listen or read, it has become mediocre - a common usage element.

This reveals some preferences.

• "Generic/universal them provides a gender-free pronoun, avoiding the exclusive his and awkward words This avoids haphazard sexism and provides broad reference statements... They , them , them are now used freely in agreement with indefinite pronouns singular and determinator, which have universal implications like anything (one), each (one), no (one), and each and several (one), whose references are often more individual... "

The Economist Style Guide refers to the use of them in sentences like

• "We can not afford to squander anyone's talents, no matter what color they are."

as "scrambled syntax that people adopt because they can not use single pronouns".

The New Hart Rules are intended for those involved in editing copies, and the emphasis is on the formal elements of presentation including punctuation and typography, not on linguistic styles but - like The Chicago Manual of Style > - make occasional forays into usage issues. It advises against the supposedly gender-neutral use of he , and suggests the careful use of them where he presents the problem.

"... Ã, now considered... as ancient or sexist to use he refers to a person of unspecified sex, as in every child needs to know that he is loved. Alternatively he is often preferred, and in formal contexts may be the best solution, but can be tiring or long-winded when used often from them in this understanding ( everyone needs to feel that they are important ) is generally accepted in both speech and writing, especially when it occurs after an indefinite word like everyone or > someone , but should not be charged by the editor if an author has used he consistently. "

The 2011 edition of the New International Version Bible uses sole them instead of the traditional he when translating pronouns that apply to both sexes in native Greek or Hebrew. This decision is based on research by a commission that studies the use of modern English and specifies that their sole them them / them ) is the most common way used by English speakers and writers currently refers to a single antecedent like anyone , anyone , someone , someone , nothing , and the like. "

Australian usage guide

The Australian Federation Press Style Guide for use in the preparation of book manuscripts recommends "gender-neutral languages ​​should be used", which states that their use them and them as single pronoun is acceptable.

Usage guide in grammar

According to Comprehensive English Grammar (1985):

"The pronoun them is commonly used as a neutral third person pronoun between masculine and feminine... At one time limited to informal use is now increasingly accepted in formal use, in [American English].

The Cambridge Grammar of English discusses prescriptive arguments that they are plural pronouns and that their use with a single "predecessor" is therefore against the rules the agreement between the introduction and the pronoun, but takes the view that they , though especially plural, can also be singular in the secondary extended reasonable, in proportion to the sense consciously extended him to include the female gender.

Their singular use is expressed as "very common", even "stylistically neutral" with antecedents like everyone , somebody , and no which is , but more limited when referring to common nouns as antecedents, as in

• " Patients should be notified at the commencement of how much they will be required to pay."
• " A friend of mine has asked me to go and help them <...>..."

The use of the pronoun itself is described as "rare" and "acceptable only by a small number of speakers", while the use of multiple morphologies itself is considered problematic when referring to a person not that everyone (because only the latter implies a plural collection).

There is also the problem of receiving letters when reflexive pronouns refer to a single noun noun followed by or , the following are all problematic:

• "Either her husband or wife has sworn falsely own ." [not mathematical]
• "Both husband and wife have sworn falsely themselves ." [grammar in question]
• "Both husband and wife have sworn falsely themselves ." [usually used by only a few speakers of Standard English].

On the motivation to use their single , Introductory Students to Grammar

"this avoidance he can not be ignored only as a matter of political correctness.The real problem with using him is that it undoubtedly colored the interpretation, sometimes not exactly... he does not have a really neutral-sex sense ".

The alternative he can be "too complicated", as in

• " Everyone agrees that he will bring his lunch with he .

or even "ungrammatical", as in

• " Everyone is here, is not he ?

"Among the younger speakers," their singular use even with words of nouns inevitably finds increasing acceptance, "avoiding any presuppositions about the sex of the referred person," as in

• "You should ask your spouse what they think."
• " That person I'm together saying they hate the movie." An example given by Huddleston et al.



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Grammatical and logical analysis

Notional agreement

One explanation given for some of their use refers to a single antecedent is the notional agreement , when the antecedent is seen as a plural semantic:

• " 'It meets that more audiences than a mother , because nature makes them partial, should the o'erhear speech. "- Shakespeare, Hamlet (1599); quoted in Merriam-Webster's Merriam-Webster Expression Dictionary .
• " No man is going to fight to be killed."... "But they were killed. []

In other words, in the quotation Shakespeare a mother is a single syntax but represents all mothers, and in quotes Shaw no man is a single syntax (shown by taking a singular form) running ) but semantically plural ( all go [to kill] not killed), then it idiomatically requires them . Such use, which returns considerably, includes instances where sex is known, as in the example above.

Distribution

Distributive constructions apply one ideas to many group members. They are usually marked in English with words like each , each and anything . The simplest example applies to groups of two, and uses words like both and or - "Do you like tea or coffee?". Since distributive constructs apply the ideas relevant to each individual in the group, rather than to the group as a whole, they are most commonly understood as singular, and single pronouns are used.

• "The British expect that everyone will do his job." - Nelson (1805, referring to a fleet manned by a male sailor)
• "Every dog ​​has its day." Ã, - John Ray Collection of Proverbs of English (1670), originating from Plutarch, Moralia , c. 95 AD, on the death of Euripides.

However, many languages, including English, show ambivalence in this regard. Because distribution also requires groups with more than one member, plural forms are sometimes used.

Reference references and non-referential

Their single form , which uses the same form of verbs as plural, is usually used to refer to an indefinite antecedent, for example,

• "People mentioned by you, will them come?"

In a few sentences, usually including words like any or anything , a single antecedent morphologist does not refer to a single entity but is "anaphorically related" to the corresponding pronoun to indicate a set of pairing relationships, as in the sentence:

• " Everyone returns to their seat." (where everyone is associated with one seat)

Linguists such as Pinker and Huddleston explain such sentences (and others) in terms of dependent variables, terms borrowed from logic. Pinker prefers the terms quantifier and dependent variables to antecedents and pronouns . He suggests that pronouns used as "variables" in this way are more likely to be considered homonyms than equivalent references.

The following shows different types of anaphoric references, using different pronouns, including them :

• in essence, with certain antecedents (antecedents and anaphoric pronouns both refer to the same real-world entities):
  • "Your wife called but she did not leave a message."
• is core with unclear antecedents:
  • "One of your girlfriends called, but she did not leave a message."
  • "One of your girlfriends called, but he left no messages.
  • "One of your friends called, but they did not leave a message."
• refers to hypothetical and unlimited entities
  • "If you have an unemployed daughter , what would you think if she wanted to take a job as a pole dancer?"
  • "If you have an unemployed child child, what would you think if they want to accept a job as a mercenary or a pole dancer?"
• anaphoric variable-dependent pronouns associated with quantifiers (no real-world entities or referenced hypotheses, examples and explanations from Huddleston and Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of English Language ):
  • " Nothing that they lift." [approx: "No person x so x insert x ' up."]
  • " Every car the glass is broken." [roughly: "For every car x , x has x 'windshield broken."]


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Cognitive efficiency

A study of whether their "singular " is more "difficult" to understand than the gender pronoun ("In Search of Gender Neutrality: Is Their Singular Generic Cognitive Substitute for Generics > He ? "By Foertsch and Gernsbacher) finds that their" single is an efficient cognitive replacement for generic he or he , especially when the antecedents are nonreferential "(eg anyone , nurse , or truck driver ) rather than referring to a specific person (eg a runner that I know or my nurse ). Their singular clause is read "as soon as a clause containing gender pronouns matching the antecedent stereotype" (eg he for the nurse and he for the truck driver ) and "much faster than clauses containing gender pronouns that conflict with antecedent gender stereotypes". On the other hand, when the pronoun they are is used to refer to a known individual ("referential precursor, whose gender may be known", eg my nurse , it is , runner I know ), reading slows compared to using gender pronouns consistent with "stereotypic gender" (eg he for special truck drivers). The study concludes that "their single increase in use is not a problem for most readers".



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Comparison with other pronouns

The singular and plural usage of them can be compared to the pronoun you , which was originally only plural, but around 1700 replaced you for a single reference, maintaining the plural form of the verb. For "you," a single reflexive pronoun ("self") is different from the plural reflexive pronoun ("yourself"); with "them" one can hear "alone" or "themselves" for a single reflexive pronoun.

Singular "they" have also been compared with "royal we" (also called "editorial we"), when one person uses the first plural instead of the first single pronoun. Similar to a single "you", a single reflexive pronoun ("self") is different from the plural reflexive pronoun ("ourselves").

Source of the article : Wikipedia