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>Gendered pronouns (for example "he" or "his") become they or their. For the love of grammar, just invent a neutral pronoun. "He" or "she" is singular. "They
by ethbro 6y ago
>Gendered pronouns (for example "he" or "his") become they or their.
For the love of grammar, just invent a neutral pronoun.
"He" or "she" is singular.
"They" is plural.
These things are not like each other.
- zorpner 6y ago"The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to 1375" https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/ https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they...
- ethbro 6y agoIf thou takest thy authority from a 1375 education, methinks the chasm betwixt us doth yawn overbroadly for debate.
- monkpit 6y agoThey is already used as a singular pronoun. Just because you want to play the grammar police won’t stop people from using it as a singular pronoun. It has already been invented, you’re welcome to use it.
- ethbro 6y agoSo what's the plural third person pronoun?
- monkpit 6y agoEver overloaded a function? You can infer the meaning from the context. “They” works as both.
- ethbro 6y agoI have. And I try not to make a habit of doing so for reasons of expediency. Here, there doesn't seem any clear benefit to overloading. Depending on context to post-hoc disambiguate definition collision is a slippery slope. Especially given that language tends to be immutable once it's popularized. Given that, why not push for a "ze" or equivalent that solves the need more optimally?