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"They" has been an acceptable third-person non-determinate singular pronoun since at least the Canterbury Tales: "And whoso fyndeth hym out of swich blame, The
by InitialLastName 5y ago
"They" has been an acceptable third-person non-determinate singular pronoun since at least the Canterbury Tales:
"And whoso fyndeth hym out of swich blame, They wol come up..."
That your English teachers were misinformed prescriptivists isn't the language's fault, and shouldn't be used as a ruler by which you measure the writing of others.
- jsjsbdkj 5y agoThey're from idaho based on the username, so they haven't caught up to chaucer yet...
- LAC-Tech 5y agoThis is true. I notice that practically all Californians I meet have a deep knowledge of Middle English and have studied Chaucer extensively. They even pronounce 'Chaucer' correctly, which is very rare globally. Comments like this are why I love Hacker News.
- ghaff 5y agoA couple of decades ago, I'm guessing that most English teachers/editors would have corrected, Chaucer notwithstanding. But, yes, general style these days does favor "they" as preferred third-person non-determinate singular pronoun because it's better than all the alternatives for various reasons.