5 ms·

Truth. I figured after Facebook started using "they" in a singular sense that the grammar rules would change. They have only unofficially.

• moocowduckquack 13y ago
  They or their as singular has been part of recognised English for a very long time. "God send every one their heart's desire!" - Much Ado About Nothing, Act III Scene 4 "There's not a man I meet but doth salute me, As if I were their well-acquainted friend." - Comedy of Errors, Act IV Scene 3
  • deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  • jrockway 13y ago
    That's a fair point, and "they" certainly does work well in some places. But if you took every use of "he" or "she" from Shakespeare and replaced it with "they", then we'd have a problem. And that's what this post is hinting at doing.
    • pessimizer 13y ago
      It's harder to write non-gendered stuff in English than to write gendered stuff, but I'm sure Shakespeare would have been pretty easily up to the job if he had cared.
    • tree_of_item 13y ago
      Running `s/he/they` on Shakespeare's current literature would fail, but why is that a problem? Don't you think Shakespeare could have made it work from the beginning if that was a big issue at the time?