4 ms·

Maybe they was intending to say that “they” is painful when paired with singular verbs like “is”, “are”, and “was”? I, at least, find that previous sentence pai

• tayo42 3y ago
  Is "they is" actuslly a correct thing to say? I'm not much a grammar person, that sounds odd to me.
  • defrost 3y ago
    It's odd and it's not considered correct in either the US or the UK today. I doubt it was ever "correct English" but it may well have been common in some parts of the UK in times past.
• Terr_ 3y ago
  > is painful when paired with singular verbs True, but I'd say that's a "bad grammar" problem, not a "singular they" problem. SA is not a naive word-swap of "he/she" with "they (and "him/her" with "them") while keeping everything else the same, but a style which demands a certain internal consistency. You use various words which cover the "one or more" case even when broader context establishes it's just one. It would be another story if English had an option that covered the case of (people_count==1 && gender==null), but instead we have to make do with either "it" (which denies personhood) or "they" (which is open-ended on count.)