Stylebooks Finally Embrace the Single 'They' (cjr.org)

Two major style manuals are now allowing the singular use of "they" in certain circumstances. While this is a victory for common sense, the paths taken are unusual in the evolution of usage. From a report on Columbia Journal Review: Both manuals, the Associated Press Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style, emphasize that "they" cannot be used with abandon. Even so, it's the middle of the end for the insistence that "they" can be only a plural pronoun. To recap: In English, there is no gender-neutral pronoun for a single person. In French, for example, the pronoun on can stand in for "he" or "she." English has no such equivalent; "it" is our singular pronoun, so devoid of gender that calling a person "it" is often considered insulting. We could use "one," but that is a very impersonal pronoun. Consider this sentence, for instance. "Everyone needs to be sure to tighten ____ safety belt before approaching the cliff." The article adds: For hundreds of years, anyone writing formally would default to "he." Advances in women's rights led to the clumsy "he or she." Many writers alternate "he" or "she." This twisting and turning is because what's known as "the epicene they" has been considered incorrect. [...] But that's not the "they" the style guides have let loose. Simply, the singular "they" will be allowed if someone prefers that pronoun.

Comments

Nope, I'll use he, she, they, there, their etc...

[p51d007]

"Everyone needs to be sure to tighten __their___ safety belt before approaching the cliff."

"While this is a victory for common sense"

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Heh. For half of Indo-European population that learned English as a second language, speaking as one of those people, it's more of a constant confusion than anything even resembling common sense.

Already A Pronoun For It

[Fieryphoenix]

One wonders where one's language went.

Nonsense

[OhPlz]

This is nonsense. "He" has always been the default in English when the gender is unknown or not relevant.

French using "on" is no different than referring to an unknown person as "one" in English. We don't use "one" that way very often because it doesn't sound right because we're used to using "he" instead. Of course it sounds impersonal, it's not using "he" or "she". It's meant to be impersonal!

Re:Nonsense

[bill_mcgonigle]

It's an education thing. People who know how English evolved know that 'he' can be both masculine or neuter, depending on context. It's been that way since before 'ye', 'thou', 'thy' and similar words went away.

People who are uneducated may assume that 'he' is only masculine and will choose to feel oppressed about it. I can't imagine how bad those people feel using romance languages where half of the nouns are masculine gendered.

It's somewhat awkward, but less so than losing the singular/plural distinction. Style guides are a useful reference, but feel free to ignore their inconsistencies and poor suggestions.

Missing quotation marks

[ChrisMaple]

"Advances" in women's rights

Re:Hoo-ray!

[LifesABeach]

Ebonics rises again! LOL

Re: How

[slasher999]

You misspelled "grammar" there the second time you used it.

Re:How

[DogDude]

Slashdot isn't about tech exclusively. It's for nerds. There are all kinds of nerds, including grammar nerds.

Re:What a bunch of pompus crap

[SirSlud]

I love people who complain when faced with nobody forcing them to do anything at all.