What an adventure it has been after writing a simple post about spelling and grammar mistakes!
The continuing stream of hundreds of comments shows that grammar is a subject dear to the hearts of many.
It's been enlightening and entertaining to read the range of opinions, some quite vehement.
If you recall, the first article was written from my perspective as a recruiter and job search coach, and listed just seven of the pervasive errors I see in business correspondence.
But the conversation expanded to cover a litany of other pet peeves and gripes.
Did you miss the previous pieces? Here they are:
- 7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb
- More Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb: The Readers Speak
My use of "they" instead of "he or she" seems controversial.
A number of commenters took issue with my style of using the pronoun "they" as a singular pronoun when someone's gender is unknown, rather than the awkward "he or she," "him or her" or the sexist default "he" or "his."
I thought the topic merited its own discussion.
Truth be told, I'm hoping I can convert some of you and together we can accelerate what I think is a much-needed evolutionary step in our language.
And if I don't convert you, at least you'll understand where I'm coming from.
My use of "they" instead of "he or she" is a choice, not an error.
When I wrote "the reader who shared about the tattoo they saw in a movie..." it wasn't an accident or lack of understanding of English grammar and pronouns that had me choose the plural word "they" to describe the singular reader.
I know the technically correct wording options.
I just don't want to write or speak that way.
English needs a gender-neutral singular pronoun, and I choose "they."
As we all know, English is a funny language, and one of its shortcomings is the lack of a gender-free singular pronoun.
In the Thai language (which I speak, albeit poorly), there is a pronoun pronounced "kao" which means he, she or they. It sure makes talking about people much easier.
The traditional assumption that "he" is inclusive is not acceptable to me.
One option we've been taught is that if the gender of the subject of the sentence is indeterminate, then you can just go ahead and use "he" or "his" and we'll all pretend that includes women, too.
Does anyone really believe that the word "he" describes both men and women? Of course not. "He" is a masculine pronoun, and I don't want to assume someone is a man.
Gender-neutral words are important when you have a commitment to equal opportunity.
As a recruiter, my job requires me to be gender-blind when selecting candidates and creating candidate profiles with hiring managers.
In those conversations, I need a simple gender-free pronoun to talk about an as-yet-unknown individual, and "they" does the job.
Many grammar experts support my choice.
Oxford Dictionaries offers a page about this tricky situation, and their experts agree that using he, his, him or himself when the subject is not identified as either male or female "is seen as outdated and sexist." (Emphasis mine.)
Oxford Dictionaries offers three possible solutions:
- Use the wording "he or she" or "his or her" if you don't mind repeating this clumsy phrase. (Personally, I mind.) So one can write, "A blogger must be able to crank out his or her work quickly."
- Reword the sentence to make the relevant noun plural. This is not possible in every situation. "Bloggers must be able to crank out their work quickly" works only if you're not talking about a specific gender-unknown blogger.
- Use the plural pronoun despite the technicality that it refers back to a singular noun. "A blogger must be able to crank out their work quickly."
The Oxford article acknowledges that many people object to the third choice as ungrammatical, but they remind us that the use of plural pronouns is "a revival of a practice dating from the 16th century. It's increasingly common in current English and is now widely accepted in both speech and writing." (Emphasis mine.)
My favorite grammarian, Grammar Girl, has an article about the dilemma, too.
She recaps the consensus as:
- "he or she" is awkward;
- assigning "he" or "she" when gender is unknown seems sexist;
- the hybrid "s/he" seems silly and awkward;
- switching between "he" and "she" is what one of her readers dubbed "whiplash grammar."
She called the use of "they" as a personal pronoun "the solution everyone loves to hate."
Grammar Girl admits that she usually tries to work around it by restructuring the sentence, but says "I will state for the record that I am a firm believer that someday "they" will be the acceptable choice for this situation."
She cites a number of credible references that will support this language shift, including Random House Dictionary and Fowler's Modern English Usage.
Language is a living thing, and it evolves and changes.
The continuing emergence of using the plural "they/their" to refer to an unknown gender singular person is one of those evolutions, and I'm part of it.
I guess you could call me a grammar progressive. Or maybe a grammactivist.
For those who don't agree I hope you still read me. But I am very comfortable with my style choice, and I'm stickin' to it.
Who else is on board?
Source Link: http://work.lifegoesstrong.com/modern-grammar-let-s-just-say-they-instead-he-or-she-shall-we
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