Comments on: Everybody Must Make Up Their Own Mind About “Their”

By: Mari Adkins

Mari Adkins — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:49:22 +0000

:applause for Peter: I second what you said wholeheartedly, sir! Glad you’re here.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:54:20 +0000

And exactly in situations such as radio advertising, you really only have that option short of using one of the (ugh) artificial gender-neutral pronouns (e.g. e took er hat and left er house (I can’t remember the specifics)), because sexist language simply isn’t an option in this day and age.

Well, that’s just idiotic. The correct use of “he” as the gender-neutral pronoun is no way “sexist”. Grammatical gender has nothing to do with sex. I always want to slap people who say “she”. Variations on “they” only work when the subject is a “hidden plural” (there’s a similar grammatical construct in Latin, FWIW, where you use plural verbs with what appears to be a singular noun; I can’t remember what it’s called).

By: stephanie Acquah

stephanie Acquah — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:02:07 +0000

am pleading to help me use good grammar

By: mike

mike — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:13:38 +0000

I have no problem with the usage of “their.” Sometimes, however, I will try to switch it up. I have no problem using the feminine in this situation. I usually make a quick, glance of a vision in my head and stick with the gender that first appears.

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By: PreciseEdit

PreciseEdit — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:51:44 +0000

Mikael- Hurray for your use of the double parentheses! Almost no one dares do this in his or her writing anymore. (Or: “Few people dare do this in their writing anymore.” (See how we easily avoided the number problem?))

Fundamental changes don’t have to be clumsy–just careful and creative, which we hope writers are, regardless.

Regarding the title of the post: This issue really refers to writers, not everybody, so the title could be (correctly), “Writers need to make up their mind about “their.” Again-a fundamental change, and one that more accurately describes the topic than the original.

Regarding our previous example: “Suddenly slurring speech could be a sign that your loved one is experiencing a stroke.”