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They as Singular Pronoun––Is It Okay? 759 Views


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Want even more deets on "they" as a singular pronoun? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for al the goods.

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English Language

Transcript

00:00

They as a singular pronoun a la Shmoop.

00:02

When a random teenager of unknown gender gets into a fender-bender and suddenly fears the

00:07

wrath of a parent... ...he

00:09

should prepare to beg for mercy.

00:12

Or is it she should prepare to beg for mercy Or is it they should

00:16

prepare to beg for mercy Argh Too many options MERCY Here's the deal.

00:20

In grammar pairing a plural pronoun with a singular antecedent is a big no-no.

00:24

So our random teenager of unknown gender... ...who

00:27

really should not have been driving and eating tacos at the same time... ...should

00:31

never have anything to do with the plural pronoun they.

00:34

The problem is that using anything other than they feels weird.

00:38

For example we could say Random Teenager had the presence of mind to call his

00:42

parents after the wreck... ...but

00:44

we don't know that our random teenager is a guy.

00:48

In this case using his seems sexist.

00:50

Or what if we said Random teenager left the accident with nothing more than a

00:55

bump on his or her head.

00:57

Using his or her doesn't just sound weird but also complicated.

01:01

When you end up in this situation stuck with a singular antecedent of unknown gender

01:05

here's what you should do... ...avoid

01:07

the problem entirely by transforming that singular noun... ...into

01:10

a plural noun.

01:12

Say you have the sentence When a teenager gets in a wreck he or she

01:17

should call 911 immediately.

01:19

That sounds awkward so let's avoid the problem.

01:22

When teenagers get in wrecks they should call 911 immediately.

01:25

Or say you have the sentence When a police officer sees someone in trouble he

01:29

should drop that jelly donut and help.

01:32

That's sexism rearing its ugly head again so let's avoid the problem.

01:36

When police officers see someone in trouble they should drop their jelly donuts and help.

01:40

Maybe someday everyone will be on board with using they with a singular antecedent.

01:44

After all lots of folks already use they as a singular gender-neutral pronoun whether they

01:48

mean to or not.

01:50

However if your English teacher isn't in the they-is-okay camp... ...you

01:54

should do everything you can to avoid using they with a singular antecedent... ...and

01:58

going forward Random Teenager should avoid driving while eating. NOTE end of file

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