4 ms·

Be clear about what the passive voice is: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2922 https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2922 > It is clear that some

by msla 3y ago

Be clear about what the passive voice is: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2922 https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2922 > It is clear that some people think The bus blew up is in the passive; that The case took on racial overtones is in the passive; that Dr. Reuben deeply regrets that this happened is in the passive; and so on. (Needless to say, none of those are in the passive voice. Of course, some people think questions are in the passive voice, so perhaps this education is a lost cause.) Moving on: > Concise writing is key to clear communication. Wordiness obscures your ideas and frustrates your reader. Make your points succinctly. The funny thing is, they wrote this without intending to be ironic. Finally: > Each student must meet with their advisor. They mark this as incorrect, which it is not, and which marks them as being innovative and ignorant. Innovative, in that they're trying to invent new rules for English to follow, and ignorant, in that they think they're being traditionalists. Cites: https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/singular-they-history https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/singular-they-history > The plural they originated around the 13th century, and it didn’t take long for its singular form to emerge. As professor and linguist Dennis Baron writes in a post at the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known instance of the singular they can be found in the medieval poem William and the Werewolf from 1375. A section translated from the Middle English to modern English reads, “Each man hurried [. . .] till they drew near [. . .] where William and his darling were lying together.” Because most language changes develop orally before they’re written down, this form of they likely had been in use for years by this point. https://web.archive.org/web/20200121102050/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/books/review/whats-your-pronoun-dennis-baron.html https://web.archive.org/web/20200121102050/https://www.nytim... https://archive.ph/jnODV https://archive.ph/jnODV > For the still unpersuaded, he points out that singular “they” is older than singular “you.” Only in the 1600s did singular “you” start pushing out “thou” and “thee.” Finally, this: > Each student must meet his or her advisor. Is marked as correct, but it isn't. Some people don't identify as "He" or "She" and trying to "Grammar" them into submission is simply idiotic.

racktash 3y ago
I was surprised when reading The Sense of Style by Pinker (not a book I would recommend incidentally) that the use of 'they' as a generic pronoun was still considered controversial. Pinker opts to alternate his chapters with he, then she, then he again – he explains this is to avoid the issue of having to otherwise use he/she type constructs. Had he used 'they', I would've never thought anything of it. Maybe it's a geographical thing?
- arp242 3y ago
  Pinker is 68; it was extremely uncommon to use "they" for most of his life. I can completely understand it just sounds "wrong" to him, because it really is quite a radical shift to how the word was used (none of this "it's been in use since the 14th century" bollocks please; it fell out of use since well before Pinker was born – you would be unable to even understand English as spoken in the 14th century because it's a different language – it's a bad faith bullshit argument) I've been using 'they' as a generic pronoun since before it was cool, but I'm also not a native English speaker and a lot younger. In my native Dutch there isn't really a good equivalent of a gender-neutral 'they', but people have tried to introduce it in recent years and it all just sounds spectacularly wrong to me, because I guess my brain is hard-wired to consider these things wrong. Changing language takes time.
  - racktash 3y ago
    I think most people that point to the historical use of the singular 'they' aren't trying to make any kind of bad faith argument – I think it's more an attempt to justify the modern usage by pointing to historical precedent as many folks feel that adds legitimacy. Personally, 'they' singular has sounded natural to me my whole life. How much of that is generational and how much of it is regional variation would be interesting to know.

by msla 3y ago

racktash 3y ago

I was surprised when reading The Sense of Style by Pinker (not a book I would recommend incidentally) that the use of 'they' as a generic pronoun was still considered controversial. Pinker opts to alternate his chapters with he, then she, then he again – he explains this is to avoid the issue of having to otherwise use he/she type constructs. Had he used 'they', I would've never thought anything of it. Maybe it's a geographical thing?

arp242 3y ago
Pinker is 68; it was extremely uncommon to use "they" for most of his life. I can completely understand it just sounds "wrong" to him, because it really is quite a radical shift to how the word was used (none of this "it's been in use since the 14th century" bollocks please; it fell out of use since well before Pinker was born – you would be unable to even understand English as spoken in the 14th century because it's a different language – it's a bad faith bullshit argument) I've been using 'they' as a generic pronoun since before it was cool, but I'm also not a native English speaker and a lot younger. In my native Dutch there isn't really a good equivalent of a gender-neutral 'they', but people have tried to introduce it in recent years and it all just sounds spectacularly wrong to me, because I guess my brain is hard-wired to consider these things wrong. Changing language takes time.
- racktash 3y ago
  I think most people that point to the historical use of the singular 'they' aren't trying to make any kind of bad faith argument – I think it's more an attempt to justify the modern usage by pointing to historical precedent as many folks feel that adds legitimacy. Personally, 'they' singular has sounded natural to me my whole life. How much of that is generational and how much of it is regional variation would be interesting to know.