"Their" and "They" in the singular sense - Writers Forum

Oracle · 11-23-2005, 06:48 PM

Is it correct to use "They" as a singular pronoun when referring to a general person?

For example:

"Exposure could leave a person scarred for years after the incident, and possibly even for the rest of their life."

Is that sentence correct?

Ben · 11-23-2005, 06:52 PM

Yup.

At least I think so...

Kimahri · 11-23-2005, 07:40 PM

Yeah, it reads the way it should.

kimahri

Hodge · 11-23-2005, 08:36 PM

Not correct.

We use it in speech because the English language lacks a gender neutral pronoun besides "it," and "it" always refers to something non-human, so we just use the plural gender neutral pronoun.

I didn't realize this until college when my professor corrected me, because this is something we use in speech all the time (which is why it sounds so right). In academic papers you just say "one" or "one's" when referring to a person who is gender neutral. So your sentence should read like this:

"Exposure could leave a one//person scarred for years after the incident, and possibly even for the rest of one's//that person's life."

Drzava · 11-23-2005, 08:38 PM

We were taught in class it was incorrect and should be replaced by "his or her" if gender is unknown.

"Exposure could leave a person scarred for years after the incident, and possibly even for the rest of his or her life."

mammamaia · 11-24-2005, 08:09 AM

other examples given are grammatically correct, but 'a person/their' is generally 'accepted' by readers, is understood, and its use can be/often is excused as a style issue, imo...

as with many things, whether you can get away with it depends on what you're writing... if it's for english class, better stick to the rules 'n regs... same goes for scholarly or journalistic efforts... in fiction, almost anything goes, as long as it makes sense and reads well...

Mike C · 11-24-2005, 05:51 PM

You're technically corect, Hodge, but we aren't generally in the business of writing academic papers. The language is evolving. when writing fiction, if it's in common usage, it's right.

Hodge · 11-24-2005, 06:19 PM

Look at her sentence. She's writing an essay. Everyone knows that normal rules only occasionally apply when writing prose.

Mike C · 11-25-2005, 02:08 AM

Oracle made no mention of writing an essay.

And if she is, she just has to take my post into class and say "Mike says..."

Nickie · 11-25-2005, 02:23 AM

I was also taught what Drzava said, and not only in class by also by my prof of English grammar.

Nickie

bobothegoat · 11-25-2005, 02:37 AM

Technically, the correct way to refer to a person of unspecified gender is to just use "him."

For political correctness points, go with "him/her" or "his or her."

mammamaia · 11-25-2005, 08:55 AM

correct for whom, oh, horned one?!?... fyi, those 'technical' rules were all established/enforced by the species' 'him's who made themselves the only half [the lesser one, btw!] worth mentioning... as in 'human' and all its offshoots such as 'mankind' et al. ... of course, the root 'man-' meaning 'by hand' is sorta apropos, if one considers the rude application of the term...

Drzava · 11-25-2005, 12:08 PM

This reminds me of that George Carlin routine...

"But, when it comes to changing the language, I think they make some good points, because we do think in language and so the quality of our thoughts and ideas could only be as good as the quality of our language. So maybe some of this patriarcho shit ought to go away. I think spokesman ought to be spokesperson. I think chairman ought to be chairperson. I think mankind ought to be human kind, but they take it too far, they take themselves too seriously, they exaggerate. They want me to call that thing in the street a personhole cover. I think that's taking it a little bit too far. What would you call a lady's man, a person's person? That would make a He-man an It-person. Little kids would be afraid of the boogieperson. They'd look up in the sky and see the person in the moon. Guys would say come back here and fight like a person. And we'd all sing "for it's a jolly good person." That's the kind of thing you would hear on late-night with David Letterperson."