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They as Singular Pronoun––Is It Okay? 767 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.
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
Full Transcript
- 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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