Singular they, sometimes called epicene they, is the use in English of third-person plural pronouns - they, them, and so on - to refer to a singular person of indeterminate gender.
Singular they is common in informal speech and becoming more common in formal speech.
It is used because the singular third-person personal pronouns are all either non-gender-neutral (he, she, and their other forms) or considered inappropriate for use in referring to people (it and its other forms).
The plural third-person versions, however, are gender-neutral.
Some use them in a conscious attempt at gender-neutral language, but many use them naturally, with no such conscious motive.
Note that while singular they is semantically singular, it is syntactically plural; thus the singular they takes plural verb forms.
While this may seem odd, it is no different from the use of you, which always takes a plural verb form, whether one is addressing one or several persons.
The reflexive form is sometimes "themselves," sometimes "themself."
By contrast, singular they still takes singular nouns, as in the sentence, "If someone is flying a plane, then they are a pilot".
Although many attack this usage as an aberration introduced for reasons of political correctness, singular they has a centuries-long history of usage. Several famous authors have used it in their writing, including Jane Austen and William Shakespeare. However, it is now becoming more popular, and this may be traced to the rise of striving for more non-sexist language.
Many grammar and usage guides state that singular they can only be used to refer to an indeterminate person, but it cannot generally be used to refer to a person identified as a particular unique individual, even if that person's gender is unknown. For example, one might say "A person might find themself in a fix" but not "The doctor might find themself..." In the latter case, the most usual thing to do is to recast the sentence in the plural ("Doctors might find themselves...") or second person ("If you're a doctor, you might find yourself..."). On the other hand, singular they is occasionally used to refer to an indeterminate person whose gender is known: "No mother should be forced to testify against their child."
Not all people agree with this usage. Many conservative grammarians view singular they as inherently ungrammatical (though another pronoun, you, has made the transition from being plural to singular/plural), and certainly non-standard. Others feel that there is no reason not to extend singular they to include specific people of unknown gender, as well as transgender or intersexual people who do not identify exclusively with one gender or the other. This debate is tied in with wider issues of political correctness and equal rights, as well as the extent to which language influences thought (see the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis).
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Last updated: 08-29-2005 20:47:45
