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Because "they" in text has always been common for me, it's not a change and not forced -- it's been like this as long as I can remember. I can't speak for the
by genmon 7y ago
Because "they" in text has always been common for me, it's not a change and not forced -- it's been like this as long as I can remember.
I can't speak for the British writing you've read, but as a Brit living in and having grown up in the UK, singular non-gendered "they" is normal and common in both formal and informal text. Could be a function of my social context or the writing I've been exposed to, it's true. We all have our own perspective.
- jon_richards 7y agoThere's even an example of it in the Canterbury Tales (one of the most iconic early English texts). I can't remember the exact line now, but it got me quite annoyed when American writing teachers would mark my uses of "they" as incorrect and demand "he or she".
- edejong 7y ago"They" as generic third person singular goes back at least five centuries. I am (obviously) referring to address a known individual using "They" / "Their".
- edejong 7y agoIt is common in colloquial English to use "they"/"their" as a generic third person singular. For example: "Could the person who left their umbrella please pick it up?" However, here it is used in a rather new setting for a specific and known individual. This is a rather new phenomenon pushed by the transgender and genderqueer community. I am specifically addressing the latter usage of the form 'they' in the third person singular. Do you agree this form is new? If not, could you give references to earlier usage than, say 1990?