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English is not my native language, so parent might be asking in good faith. "Them" is the neutral plural third-person pronoun, for when you don't know if it's a
by ASalazarMX 4y ago
English is not my native language, so parent might be asking in good faith. "Them" is the neutral plural third-person pronoun, for when you don't know if it's a him or her.
It's something I somehow didn't notice for years, until the non-binary people started demanding it, and then I learned it was actually correct grammar.
- jefftk 4y ago> I learned it was actually correct grammar. While I'm strongly in favor of expanding the situations in which we use "they", "correct grammar" isn't really right. There is a long history of using "they" in cases where the person it references is vague or hypothetical: "each visitor took off their hat at the door", "someone has their head screwed on wrong", "no one thought they could do it", "if anyone calls, get their name". Using "they" for a specific known referent, like "Pat said they'd be home soon", is a much more recent construction.