I would respectfully disagree that singular they weakens mental capacity. I use it whenever it fits. There's an interesting historical justification for singular they, going back over 500 years.
Singular they, along with its inflected or derivative forms, them, their, theirs and themselves (or themself), is an epicene (gender-neutral) third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent...The singular they emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the plural they. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since and has gained currency in official contexts.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
As [Merriam-Webster] dictionary’s staff wrote...“English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone, someone, and anyone, and as a consequence ‘they’ has been used for this purpose for over 600 years.”
historians.org
The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to 1375, where it appears in the medieval romance William and the Werewolf.
public.oed.com
I've always used it because euphony and common sense.
Euphony: Who doesn't hate the sound of stuff like "If the applicant would take his or her seat, and if he or she would take out his or her report that he or she plans to submit with his or her..." Gaaahhh!
Common sense: In a classroom full of females and one male student, it is "correct" by the rules of grammar but feels utterly ridiculous to say "Everyone needs to submit his final exam." The word "their" works so much better there, since "everyone" conveys the sense of a group of people even though it's technically singular.
"If anyone wants to leave themself liable for that, they're welcome to do it" doesn't look as good on the page as it sounds in casual speech, where this sentence about one unspecified male or female person would scarcely raise an eyebrow hair. (Spoken quickly, it almost sounds like the once-common "himself" for everything.)
Ignorant and unstructured grammar leads to ignorant and unstructured thought
In general this is super correct and accurate—and very concisely stated. Thanks for putting an important axiom out there.
/wordnerd
I would respectfully disagree that singular they weakens mental capacity. I use it whenever it fits. There's an interesting historical justification for singular they, going back over 500 years.
Singular they, along with its inflected or derivative forms, them, their, theirs and themselves (or themself), is an epicene (gender-neutral) third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent...The singular they emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the plural they. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since and has gained currency in official contexts.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
As [Merriam-Webster] dictionary’s staff wrote...“English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone, someone, and anyone, and as a consequence ‘they’ has been used for this purpose for over 600 years.”
historians.org
The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to 1375, where it appears in the medieval romance William and the Werewolf.
public.oed.com
I've always loved using it, because euphony and common sense.
Euphony: Who doesn't hate the sound of stuff like "If the applicant would take his or her seat, and if he or she would take out his or her report that he or she plans to submit with his or her..." Gaaahhh!
Common sense: In a classroom full of females and one male student, it is "correct" by the rules of grammar but feels utterly ridiculous to say "Everyone needs to submit his final exam." The word "their" works so much better there, since "everyone" conveys the sense of a group of people even though it's technically singular.
"If anyone wants to leave themself liable for that, they're welcome to do it" doesn't look as good on the page as it sounds in casual speech, where this sentence about one unspecified male or female person would scarcely raise an eyebrow hair. (Spoken quickly, it almost sounds like the once-common "himself" for everything.)
Ignorant and unstructured grammar leads to ignorant and unstructured thought
In general this is super correct and accurate—and very concisely stated. Thanks for putting an important axiom out there.
/wordnerd
I would respectfully disagree that singular they weakens mental capacity. I use it whenever it fits. There's an interesting historical justification for singular they, going back over 500 years.
Singular they, along with its inflected or derivative forms, them, their, theirs and themselves (or themself), is an epicene (gender-neutral) third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent...The singular they emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the plural they. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since and has gained currency in official contexts.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
As [Merriam-Webster] dictionary’s staff wrote...“English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone, someone, and anyone, and as a consequence ‘they’ has been used for this purpose for over 600 years.”
historians.org
The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to 1375, where it appears in the medieval romance William and the Werewolf.
public.oed.com
I've always loved using it, because euphony and common sense.
Euphony: Who doesn't hate the sound of stuff like "If the applicant would take his or her seat, and if he or she would take out his or her report that he or she plans to submit with his or her..." Gaaahhh!
Common sense: In a classroom full of females and one male student, it is "correct" by the rules of grammar but feels utterly ridiculous to say "Everyone needs to submit his final exam." The word "their" works so much better there, since "everyone" conveys the sense of a group of people even though it's technically singular.
"If anyone wants to leave themself liable for that, they're welcome to do it" doesn't look as good on the page as it sounds in casual speech, where this sentence about one unspecified male or female person would scarcely raise an eyebrow hair. (Spoken quickly, it almost sounds like the once-common "himself" for everything.)
Ignorant and unstructured grammar leads to ignorant and unstructured thought
This is generally very correct and accurate.
/wordnerd