Singularthey, along with itsinflected or derivative forms,them,their,theirs, andthemselves (alsothemself andtheirself), is agender-neutralthird-person pronoun derived from pluralthey. It typically occurs with an indeterminateantecedent, to refer to an unknown person, or to refer to every person of some group, in sentences such as:
This use of singularthey had emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the pluralthey.[4][5][2] Singularthey has been criticised since the mid-18th century byprescriptive commentators who consider it an error.[6] Its continued use in modernstandard English has become more common and formally accepted with the move towardgender-neutral language.[7][8] Some early-21st-centurystyle guides described it ascolloquial and less appropriate in formal writing.[9][10] However, by 2020, most style guides accepted the singularthey as apersonal pronoun.[11][12][13][14]
In the early 21st century, use of singularthey with known individuals emerged fornon-binary people, as in, for example, "This is my friend,Jay. I metthem at work."[15]They in this context was namedWord of the Year for 2015 by theAmerican Dialect Society,[16] and for 2019 byMerriam-Webster.[17][18][19] In 2020, the American Dialect Society also selected it asWord of the Decade for the 2010s.[20]
Like the "singularyou", "singularthey" permits a singular antecedent, but is used with the same verb forms as pluralthey,[21][22][23][24] and has the same inflected forms as pluralthey (i.e.them,their, andtheirs),[25] except that in the reflexive form,themself is sometimes used instead ofthemselves.[26]
| Pronoun | Subjective (nominative) | Objective (accusative) | Prenominal possessive (dependent genitive) | Predicative possessive (independent genitive) | Reflexive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| He | He is my son. | When my son cries, I hughim. | My son tells mehis age. | If I lose my phone, my son lends mehis. | My son dresseshimself. |
| She | She is my daughter. | When my daughter cries, I hugher. | My daughter tells meher age. | If I lose my phone, my daughter lends mehers. | My daughter dressesherself. |
| Pluralthey | They are my children. | When my children cry, I hugthem. | My children tell metheir ages. | If I lose my phone, my children lend metheirs. | My children dressthemselves. |
| Singularthey[27] | They are my child. | When my child cries, I hugthem. | My child tells metheir age. | If I lose my phone, my child lends metheirs. | My child dressesthemself [orthemselves]. |
| Generiche | He is my child. | When my child cries, I hughim. | My child tells mehis age. | If I lose my phone, my child lends mehis. | My child dresseshimself. |
| It | It is my child. | When my child cries, I hugit. | My child tells meits age. | If I lose my phone, my child lends meits. | My child dressesitself. |
Themself is attested from the 14th to 16th centuries. Its use has been increasing since the 1970s[28][29] or 1980s,[30] though it is sometimes still classified as "a minority form".[31] In 2002, Payne andHuddleston, inThe Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, called its use in standard dialect "rare and acceptable only to a minority of speakers" but "likely to increase with the growing acceptance ofthey as a singular pronoun".[28] It is useful when referring to a single person of indeterminate gender, where the plural formthemselves might seem incongruous, as in:
"It is not an actor pretending to be Reagan or Thatcher, it is, in grotesque form, the person themself."
The Canadian government recommendsthemselves as the reflexive form of singularthey for use in Canadian federal legislative texts and advises against usingthemself.[34]
They with a singular antecedent goes back to theMiddle English of the 14th century[35][36] (slightly younger thanthey with a plural antecedent, which was borrowed fromOld Norse in the 13th century),[37] and has remained in use for centuries in spite of its proscription by traditional grammarians beginning in the mid-18th century.[38][39]
Informal spoken English exhibits universal use of the singularthey. An examination by Jürgen Gerner of theBritish National Corpus published in 1998 found that British speakers, regardless of social status, age, sex, or region, used the singularthey more often than the gender-neutralhe or other options in the context of being anaphors after indefinite pronouns like "everybody" and "anybody".[40]
He has been used with antecedents of indeterminate gender since theOld English period,[41] as in the following:
"Ifany one did not know it, it washis own fault."
"Every person who turns this page hashis own little diary."
The earliest known explicit recommendation by a grammarian to use the generiche rather thanthey in formal English isAnn Fisher's mid-18th centuryA New Grammar assertion that "TheMasculine Person answers to thegeneral Name, which comprehends bothMale andFemale; as,any Person who knows what he says." (Ann Fisher[46] as quoted by Ostade[47])
Nineteenth-century grammarians insisted onhe as a gender-neutral pronoun on the grounds ofnumber agreement, while rejecting "he or she" as clumsy,[48] and this was widely adopted: e.g. in 1850, the British Parliament passed an act which provided that, when used in acts of Parliament "words importing the masculine gender shall be deemed and taken to include females".[49][50] Baskervill and Sewell mention the common use of the singularthey in theirAn English Grammar for the Use of High School, Academy and College Class of 1895, but prefer the generiche on the basis of number agreement.
Baskervill gives a number of examples of recognized authors using the singularthey, including:
"Every one must judge according totheir own feelings."
"Had the Doctor been contented to take my dining tables asany body intheir senses would have done ..."
It has been argued that the real motivation for promoting the "generic"he was an androcentric world view, with the default sex of humans being male – and the default gender therefore being masculine.[48] There is some evidence for this: Wilson wrote in 1560:
"... let us keepe a naturall order, and set the man before the woman for manners sake."
— Wilson,The arte of Rhetorique (1560);[54]
"... the worthier is preferred and set before. As a man is set before a woman ..."
— Wilson,The arte of Rhetorique (1560);[55]
And Poole wrote in 1646:
"The Masculine gender is more worthy than the Feminine."
In spite of continuous attempts on the part of educationalists to proscribe singularthey in favour ofhe, this advice was ignored; even writers of the period continued to usethey (though the proscription may have been observed more by American writers).[58][59] Use of the purportedly gender-neutralhe remained acceptable until at least the 1960s,[60] though some uses ofhe were later criticized as being awkward or silly, for instance when referring to:[61]
"The ideal thatevery boy and girl should be so equipped thathe shall not be handicapped inhis struggle for social progress ..."
— C. C. Fries,American English Grammar, (1940).[62]
"She and Louis had a game – who could find the ugliest photograph of himself."
— Joseph P. Lash,Eleanor and Franklin (1971)[63]
He is still sometimes found in contemporary writing when referring to a generic or indeterminate antecedent. In some cases, it is clear from the situation that the persons potentially referred to are likely to be male, as in:
"The patient should be informed of his therapeutic options."
— a text about prostate cancer (2004)[64]
In some cases the antecedent may refer to persons who are onlyprobably male or to occupations traditionally thought of as male:
"It wouldn't be as ifthe lone astronaut would be completely byhimself." (2008)[65]
"Kitchen table issues ... are onesthe next president can actually do something about ifhe actually cares about it. More likely if she cares about it!"
— Hillary Rodham Clinton (2008)[66]
In other situations, the antecedent may refer to an indeterminate person of either sex:
"Now, a writer is entitled to have a Roget onhis desk."
"A Member of Parliament should always live inhis constituency."[69]
In 2010, Choy and Clark still recommend the use of generiche "in formal speech or writing":[70]
"... when indefinite pronouns are used as antecedents, they requiresingular subject, object, and possessive pronouns ..."
"Everyone did ashe pleased"— Choy, Basic Grammar and Usage
In informal spoken English, plural pronouns are often used with indefinite pronoun antecedents. However, this construction is generally not considered appropriate in formal speech or writing.
Informal:Somebody should let you borrowtheir book.
Formal:Somebody should let you borrowhis book.— Choy, Basic Grammar and Usage[70]
In 2015,Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage calls this "the now outmoded use ofhe to mean 'anyone'",[71] stating:[72]
From the earliest times until about the 1960s it was unquestionably acceptable to use the pronounhe (andhim,himself,his) with indefinite reference to denote a person of either sex, especially after indefinite pronouns and determiners such asanybody, ...every, etc., after gender-neutral nouns such asperson ... [but] alternative devices are now usually resorted to. When a gender-neutral pronoun or determiner ... is needed, the options usually adopted are the plural formsthey,their,themselves, etc., orhe or she (his or her, etc.)
In 2016,Garner's Modern English calls the generic use of masculine pronouns "the traditional view, now widely assailed as sexist".[73]
The earliest known attempt to create a new gender-neutral pronoun in English dates back to 1792, when Scottish economist James Anderson advocated for an indeterminate pronounou.[74]
In 1808, poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge suggestedit andwhich as neutral pronouns for the wordperson:[75][76]
In the second half of the 20th century, people expressed more widespread concern at the use of male-oriented language.[77] This included criticism of the use ofman as a generic term to include men and women and of the use ofhe to refer to any human, regardless of sex (social gender).[78]
It was argued thathe could not sensibly be used as a generic pronoun understood to include men and women.William Safire in hisOn Language column inThe New York Times approved of the use of generiche, mentioning the mnemonic phrase "the male embraces the female".[79] C. Badendyck from Brooklyn wrote to theNew York Times in a reply:[80]
The average American needs the small routines of getting ready for work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his panty-hose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the day.
By 1980, the movement toward gender-neutral language had gained wide support, and many organizations, including most publishers, had issued guidelines on the use of gender-neutral language,[77] but stopped short of recommendingthey to be third-person singular with a non-indeterminate, singular antecedent.[citation needed]
The use of masculine generic nouns and pronouns in written and spoken language has decreased since the 1970s.[81]In a corpus of spontaneous speech collected in Australia in the 1990s, singularthey had become the most frequently used generic pronoun (rather than generiche orhe or she).[81] Similarly, a study from 2002 looking at a corpus of American and British newspapers showed a preference forthey to be used as a singular epicene pronoun.[82]
The increased use of singularthey may owe in part to an increasing desire forgender-neutral language. A solution in formal writing has often been to write "he or she", or something similar, but this is often considered awkward or overlypolitically correct, particularly when used excessively.[83][84] In 2016, the journalAmerican Speech published a study by Darren K. LaScotte investigating the pronouns used by native English speakers in informal written responses to questions concerning a subject of unspecified gender, finding that 68% of study participants chose singularthey to refer to such an antecedent. Some participants noted that they found constructions such as "he or she" inadequate as they do not include people whoidentify as neither male nor female.[85]
They in this context was named Word of the Year for 2019 by Merriam-Webster[17][18][19] and for 2015 by the American Dialect Society.[16] On January 4, 2020, the American Dialect Society announced they had crownedthey, again in this context, Word of the Decade for the 2010s.[20]
The singular antecedent can be a pronoun such assomeone,anybody, oreverybody, or an interrogative pronoun such aswho:
"I feel that ifsomeone is not doingtheir job it should be called totheir attention."
— an American newspaper (1984); quoted by Fowler.[86]
"Ifanyone tells you that America's best days are behind her, thenthey're looking the wrong way." President George Bush, 1991 State of the Union Address;[87] quoted by Garner[88]
"Anyone can setthemselves up as an acupuncturist."
— Sarah Lonsdale, "Sharp Practice Pricks Reputation of Acupuncture".Observer 15 December 1991, as cited by Garner[88]
"Ifanybody calls, taketheir name and askthem to call again later." Example given by Swan[1]
"No one puttheir hand up." Example given by Huddleston et al.[90]
"No one feltthey had been misled." Example given by Huddleston et al.[3]
"Who thinksthey can solve the problem?". Example given by Huddleston et al.;The Cambridge Grammar of the English language.[91]
"Everyone promised to behavethemselves." Example given by Huddleston et al.[3]
Although the pronounseverybody,everyone,nobody, andno one are singular in form and are used with a singular verb, these pronouns have an "implied plurality" that is somewhat similar to the implied plurality of collective or group nouns such ascrowd orteam,[b] and in some sentences where the antecedent is one of these "implied plural" pronouns, the wordthey cannot be replaced by generiche,[93] suggesting a "notional plural" rather than a "bound variable" interpretation (see§ Grammatical and logical analysis, below). This is in contrast to sentences that involve multiple pairwise relationships and singularthey, such as:
There are examples where the antecedent pronoun (such aseveryone) may refer to a collective, with no necessary implication of pairwise relationships. These are examples of pluralthey:
Which are apparent because they do not work with a generiche orhe or she:
In addition, for these "notional plural" cases, it would not be appropriate to usethemself instead ofthemselves as in:
The singular antecedent can also be a noun such asperson,patient, orstudent:
"cognitive dissonance: "a concept in psychology [that] describes the condition in whicha person's attitudes conflict withtheir behaviour".
— Macmillan Dictionary of Business and Management (1988), as cited by Garner.[88]
"A starting point would be to give more support tothe company secretary.They are, or should be, privy to the confidential deliberations and secrets of the board and the company.
— Ronald Severn, "Protecting the Secretary Bird".Financial Times, 6 January 1992; quoted by Garner.[88]
Even when referring to a class of persons of known sex,they is sometimes used:[97]
They may also be used with antecedents of mixed genders:
Even for a definite known person of known sex,they may be used in order to ignore or conceal the sex.
The wordthemself is also sometimes used when the antecedent is known or believed to be a single person.
Known individuals may be referred to asthey if the individual's gender is unknown to the speaker.[98][99]
A known individual may also be referred to asthey if the individual isnon-binary or genderqueer and considersthey and derivatives as appropriate pronouns.[98][99] Several social media applications permit account holders to choose to identify their gender using one of a variety of non-binary or genderqueer options,[100] such asgenderfluid,agender, orbigender, and to designate pronouns, includingthey/them, which they wish to be used when referring to them.[101] Explicitly designating one's pronouns asthey/them increases the chance that people will interpret "they" as singular.[102] Though "singularthey" has long been used with antecedents such aseverybody or generic persons of unknown gender, this use, which may be chosen by an individual, is recent.[103] The earliest recorded usage of this sense documented by theOxford English Dictionary is in a tweet from 2009;[104][105] the journalAmerican Speech documents an example from 2008 in an article in the journalWomen's Studies Quarterly.[106] As of 2020, singularthey is the most popular pronoun set used by non-binary people. Approximately 80% consider it appropriate for themselves.[107][108]
The singularthey in the meaning "gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, as a non-binary identifier"[109] was chosen by theAmerican Dialect Society as their "Word of the Year" for 2015.[103] In 2016, the American Dialect Society wrote:
"While editors have increasingly moved to accepting singular they when used in a generic fashion, voters in the Word of the Year proceedings singled out its newer usage as an identifier for someone who may identify as non-binary in gender terms."[110]
The vote followed the previous year's approval of this use byThe Washington Post style guide, whenBill Walsh, thePost's copy editor, said that the singularthey is "the only sensible solution to English's lack of a gender-neutral third-person singular personal pronoun".[111]
In 2019, the non-binarythey was added toMerriam-Webster's dictionary.[112][113][114]
The first non-binary main character on North American television appeared on theShowtime drama seriesBillions in 2017, withAsia Kate Dillon playing Taylor Mason.[115][116] Both actor and character use singularthey.
Though both generiche and genericthey have long histories of use, and both are still used, both are also systematically avoided by particular groups.[117]
Style guides that avoid expressing a preference for either approach sometimes recommend recasting a problem sentence, for instance replacing generic expressions with plurals to avoid the criticisms of either party.
Sources differ about whether singularthey is more accepted in British or American English, withGarner's Modern English Usage stating British English[118] andA Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language stating American English.[119]
Garner's Modern American Usage (4th ed., 2016) recommends cautious use of singularthey, and avoidance where possible because its use is stigmatized.
"Where noun–pronoun disagreement can be avoided, avoid it. Where it can't be avoided, resort to it cautiously because some people may doubt your literacy".[120]
Garner suggests that use of singularthey is more acceptable in British English:
"Speakers ofAmE resist this development more than speakers ofBrE, in which the indeterminatethey is already more or less standard."[118]
and apparently regrets the resistance by the American language community:
"That it sets many literate Americans' teeth on edge is an unfortunate obstacle to what promises to be the ultimate solution to the problem."[118]
He regards the trend toward using singularthey with antecedents likeeverybody,anyone andsomebody as inevitable:
"Disturbing though these developments may be to purists, they're irreversible. And nothing that a grammarian says will change them."[121]
Garner also notes that "resistance to the singularthey is fast receding" in all national varieties of English.[122]
In the 14th edition (1993) ofThe Chicago Manual of Style, the University of Chicago Press explicitly recommended using singularthey andtheir, noting a "revival" of this usage and citing "its venerable use by such writers as Addison, Austen, Chesterfield, Fielding, Ruskin, Scott, and Shakespeare."[123]From the 15th edition (2003), this was changed. In Chapter 5 of the 17th edition (2017), now written byBryan A. Garner, the recommendations are:[124]
Normally, a singular antecedent requires a singular pronoun. But becausehe is no longer universally accepted as a generic pronoun referring to a person of unspecified gender, people commonly (in speech and in informal writing) substitute the third-person-plural pronounsthey,them,their, andthemselves (or the nonstandard singularthemself). While this usage is accepted in those spheres, it is only lately showing signs of gaining acceptance in formal writing, where Chicago recommends avoiding its use. When referring specifically to a person who does not identify with a gender-specific pronoun, however,they and its forms are often preferred.
The 7th edition of theAmerican Psychological Association'sPublication Manual, released in October 2019, advises using singular "they" when gender is unknown or irrelevant, and gives the following example:[125]
For instance, rather than writing "I don't know who wrote this note, but he or she has good handwriting," you might write something like "I don't know who wrote this note, but they have good handwriting."
APA style also endorses usingthey/them if it is someone's (for example, anon-binary person's) preferred pronoun set.[126]
William Strunk Jr. &E. B. White, the original authors ofThe Elements of Style, found use ofthey with a singular antecedent unacceptable and advised use of the singular pronoun (he). In the 3rd edition (1979), the recommendation was still:[127]
They. Not to be used when the antecedent is a distributive expression, such aseach,each one.everybody,every one,many a man. Use the singular pronoun. ... A similar fault is the use of the plural pronoun with the antecedentanybody,anyone,somebody,someone ....
The assessment, in 1979, was that:[127]
The use ofhe as pronoun for nouns embracing both genders is a simple, practical convention rooted in the beginnings of the English language.He has lost all suggestion of maleness in these circumstances. ... It has no pejorative connotation; it is never incorrect.
In the 4th edition (2000), use of singularthey was still proscribed against, but use of generiche was no longer recommended.[128]
Joseph M. Williams, who wrote a number of books on writing with "clarity and grace", discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various solutions when faced with the problem of referring to an antecedent such assomeone,everyone,no one or a noun that does not indicate gender and suggests that this will continue to be a problem for some time. He "suspect[s] that eventually we will accept the pluralthey as a correct singular" but states that currently "formal usage requires a singular pronoun".[129]
ThePurdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) states that "grammar shifts and changes over time", that the use of singularthey is acceptable,[130] and that singular "they" as a replacement for "he" or "she" is more inclusive:
When individuals whose gender is neither male nor female (e.g. nonbinary, agender, genderfluid, etc.) use the singular they to refer to themselves, they are using the language to express their identities. Adopting this language is one way writers can be inclusive of a range of people and identities.
— Purdue Writing Lab
The Washington Post's stylebook, as of 2015, recommends trying to "write around the problem, perhaps by changing singulars to plurals, before using the singular they as a last resort" and specifically permits use ofthey for a "gender-nonconforming person".[98]
TheAssociated Press Stylebook, as of 2017, recommends: "they/them/their is acceptable in limited cases as a singular and-or gender-neutral pronoun, when alternative wording is overly awkward or clumsy. However, rewording usually is possible and always is preferable."[131]
InThe Handbook of Nonsexist Writing,Casey Miller andKate Swift accept or recommend singular uses ofthey in cases where there is an element of semantic plurality expressed by a word such as "everyone" or where an indeterminateperson is referred to, citing examples of such usage in formal speech.[132] They also suggest rewriting sentences to use a pluralthey, eliminating pronouns, or recasting sentences to use "one" or (for babies) "it".[133]
In the first edition ofA Dictionary of Modern English Usage (published in 1926) use of the generiche is recommended.[134] It is stated that singularthey is disapproved of by grammarians. Numerous examples of its use by eminent writers in the past are given, but it is stated that "few good modern writers would flout [grammarians] so conspicuously as Fielding and Thackeray", whose sentences are described as having an "old-fashioned sound".[135]
The second edition,Fowler's Modern English Usage (edited by SirErnest Gowers and published in 1965) continues to recommend use of the generiche; use of the singularthey is called "the popular solution", which "sets the literary man's teeth on edge".[136] It is stated that singularthey is still disapproved of by grammarians but common in colloquial speech.[137]
According to the third edition,The New Fowler's Modern English Usage (edited byRobert Burchfield and published in 1996) singularthey has not only been widely used by good writers for centuries, but is now generally accepted, except by some conservative grammarians, including the Fowler of 1926, who, it is argued, ignored the evidence:
Over the centuries, writers of standing have usedthey,their, andthem with anaphoric reference to a singular noun or pronoun, and the practice has continued in the 20C. to the point that, traditional grammarians aside, such constructions are hardly noticed any more or are not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone. Fowler (1926) disliked the practice ... and gave a number of unattributed "faulty' examples ... The evidence presented in theOED points in another direction altogether.[138]
The Complete Plain Words was originally written in 1948 by Ernest Gowers, a civil servant, in an attempt by the British civil service to improve "official English". A second edition, edited by Sir Bruce Fraser, was published in 1973. It refers tothey orthem as the "equivalent of a singular pronoun of common sex" as "common in speech and not unknown in serious writing " but "stigmatized by grammarians as usage grammatically indefensible. The book's advice for "official writers" (civil servants) is to avoid its use and not to be tempted by its "greater convenience", though "necessity may eventually force it into the category of accepted idiom".[139]
A new edition ofPlain Words, revised and updated by Gowers's great-granddaughter, Rebecca Gowers, was published in 2014.It notes that singularthey andthem have become much more widespread since Gowers' original comments, but still finds it "safer" to treat a sentence like 'The reader may toss their book aside' as incorrect "in formal English", while rejecting even more strongly sentences like
The Times Style and Usage Guide (first published in 2003 byThe Times of London) recommends avoiding sentences like
by using a plural construction:
The Cambridge Guide to English Usage (2004,Cambridge University Press) finds singularthey "unremarkable":
For those listening or reading, it has become unremarkable – an element of common usage.[141]
It expresses several preferences.
The Economist Style Guide refers to the use ofthey in sentences like
as "scrambled syntax that people adopt because they cannot bring themselves to use a singular pronoun".[142]
New Hart's Rules (Oxford University Press, 2012) is aimed at those engaged in copy editing, and the emphasis is on the formal elements of presentation including punctuation and typeface, rather than on linguistic style, although – likeThe Chicago Manual of Style – it makes occasional forays into matters of usage. It advises against use of the purportedly gender-neutralhe, and suggests cautious use ofthey wherehe or she presents problems.
... it is now regarded ... as old-fashioned or sexist to usehe in reference to a person of unspecified sex, as inevery child needs to know that he is loved. The alternativehe or she is often preferred, and in formal contexts probably the best solution, but can become tiresome or long-winded when used frequently. Use ofthey in this sense (everyone needs to feel that they matter) is becoming generally accepted both in speech and in writing, especially where it occurs after an indefinite pronoun such aseveryone orsomeone, but should not be imposed by an editor if an author has usedhe or she consistently.[143]
The 2011 edition of theNew International VersionBible uses singularthey instead of the traditionalhe when translating pronouns that apply to both genders in the original Greek or Hebrew. This decision was based on research by a commission that studied modern English usage and determined that singularthey (them/their) was by far the most common way that English-language speakers and writers today refer back to singular antecedents such aswhoever,anyone,somebody,a person,no one, and the like."[144]
The British edition ofThe Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, modified in some respects from the original US edition to conform to differences in culture and vocabulary, preserved the same recommendations, allowing singularthey with semantically plural terms like "everyone" and indeterminate ones like "person", but recommending a rewrite to avoid.[133]
The AustralianFederation Press Style Guide for Use in Preparation of Book Manuscripts recommends "gender-neutral language should be used", stating that use ofthey andtheir as singular pronouns is acceptable.[145]
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language discusses the prescriptivist argument thatthey is a plural pronoun and that the use ofthey with a singular "antecedent" therefore violates the rule of agreement between antecedent and pronoun, but takes the view thatthey, thoughprimarily plural, can also be singular in a secondaryextended sense, comparable to the purportedly extended sense ofhe to include female gender.[28]
Use of singularthey is stated to be "particularly common", even "stylistically neutral" with antecedents such aseveryone,someone, andno one, but more restricted when referring to common nouns as antecedents, as in
Use of the pronounthemself is described as being "rare" and "acceptable only to a minority of speakers", while use of the morphologically pluralthemselves is considered problematic when referring tosomeone rather thaneveryone (since only the latter implies a plural set).[28]
There are also issues of grammatical acceptability when reflexive pronouns refer to singular noun phrases joined byor, the following all being problematic:
On the motivation for using singularthey,A Student's Introduction to English Grammar states:[146]
this avoidance ofhe can't be dismissed just as a matter of political correctness. The real problem with usinghe is that it unquestionably colours the interpretation, sometimes inappropriately ...he doesn't have a genuinely sex-neutral sense.
The alternativehe or she can be "far too cumbersome", as in:
or even "flatly ungrammatical", as in
"Among younger speakers", use of singularthey even with definite noun-phrase antecedents finds increasing acceptance, "sidestepping any presumption about the sex of the person referred to", as in:
"The person I was with saidthey hated the film." Example given by Huddleston et al.[146]
According toA Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985):[119]
The pronounthey is commonly used as a 3rd person singular pronoun that is neutral between masculine and feminine ... At one time restricted to informal usage. it is now increasingly accepted in formal usage, especially in [American English].
According toThe Little, Brown Handbook, most experts – and some teachers and employers – find use of singularthey unacceptable:
Although some experts acceptthey,them, andtheir with singular indefinite words, most do not, and many teachers and employers regard the plural as incorrect. To be safe, work for agreement between singular indefinite words and the pronouns that refer to them ....
It recommends usinghe or she or avoiding the problem by rewriting the sentence to use a plural or omit the pronoun.[147]
According toThe American Heritage Book of English Usage and its usage panel of selected writers, journalism professors, linguists, and other experts, many Americans avoid use ofthey to refer to a singular antecedent out of respect for a "traditional" grammatical rule, despite use of singularthey by modern writers of note and mainstream publications:[148]
Most of the Usage Panel rejects the use ofthey with singular antecedents as ungrammatical, even in informal speech. Eighty-two percent find the sentenceThe typical student in the program takes about six years to complete their course work unacceptable ... panel members seem to make a distinction between singular nouns, such asthe typical student anda person, and pronouns that are grammatically singular but semantically plural, such asanyone,everyone andno one. Sixty-four percent of panel members accept the sentenceNo one is willing to work for those wages anymore, are they?
Notional agreement is the idea that some uses ofthey might refer to a grammatically singular antecedent seen as semantically plural:
"'Tis meet that some more audience thana mother, since nature makesthem partial, should o'erhear the speech."
"No man goes to battle to be killed." ... "Butthey do get killed."
— George Bernard Shaw, quoted inMerriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage[61]
According tonotional agreement, in the Shakespeare quotationa mother is syntactically singular, but stands for all mothers;[61] and in the Shaw quotationno man is syntactically singular (taking the singular formgoes), but is semantically plural (all go [to kill] not to be killed), hence idiomatically requiringthey.[150] Such use, which goes back a long way, includes examples where the sex is known, as in the above examples.[151]
Distributive constructions apply asingle idea tomultiple members of a group.They are typically marked in English by words likeeach,every andany. The simplest examples are applied to groups of two, and use words likeeither andor – "Would you like tea or coffee?". Since distributive constructions apply an idea relevant to each individual in the group, rather than to the group as a whole, they are most often conceived of as singular, and a singular pronoun is used:
"England expects that every man will do his duty."
— Nelson (1805), referring to a fleet crewed by male sailors)
"Every dog hath his day."
However, many languages, including English, show ambivalence in this regard. Because distribution also requires a group with more than one member, plural forms are sometimes used.[c][example needed]
The singularthey, which uses the same verb form that plurals do, is typically used to refer to an indeterminate antecedent, for example:
In some sentences, typically those including words likeevery orany, the morphologically singular antecedent does not refer to a single entity but is "anaphorically linked" to the associated pronoun to indicate a set of pairwise relationships, as in the sentence:[153]
Linguists likeSteven Pinker andRodney Huddleston explain sentences like this (and others) in terms ofbound variables, a term borrowed fromlogic. Pinker prefers the termsquantifier andbound variable toantecedent andpronoun.[154] He suggests that pronouns used as "variables" in this way are more appropriately regarded ashomonyms of the equivalent referential pronouns.[155]
The following shows different types of anaphoric reference, using various pronouns, includingthey:
A study of whether "singularthey" is more "difficult" to understand than gendered pronouns found that "singularthey is a cognitively efficient substitute for generiche orshe, particularly when the antecedent is nonreferential" (e.g.anybody,a nurse, ora truck driver) rather than referring to a specific person (e.g.a runner I knew ormy nurse). Clauses with singularthey were read "just as quickly as clauses containing a gendered pronoun that matched the stereotype of the antecedent" (e.g.she for a nurse andhe for a truck driver) and "much more quickly than clauses containing a gendered pronoun that went against the gender stereotype of the antecedent".[156]
On the other hand, when the pronounthey was used to refer to known individuals ("referential antecedents, for which the gender was presumably known", e.g.my nurse,that truck driver,a runner I knew), reading was slowed when compared with use of a gendered pronoun consistent with the "stereotypic gender" (e.g.he for a specific truck driver).[156]
The study concluded that "the increased use of singularthey is not problematic for the majority of readers".[156]
A 2024 study by Arnold, Venkatesh, and Vig stated that two-thirds of people used an incorrect pronoun at least once in speaking about someone who used singularthey, versus never when speaking about someone who usedhe orshe, suggesting that singularthey caused some difficulty, but the rate of errors was low (9%). They wrote that whereas people may repeat a name to avoid using the pronounthey in writing, in speech people used singularthey at least as frequently as binary pronouns, "suggesting that any difficulty does not result in pronoun avoidance" in speech.[157]
The singular and plural use ofthey can be compared with the pronounyou, which had been both a plural andpolite singular, but by the 18th century replacedthou for singular referents.[141] For "you", the singularreflexive pronoun ("yourself") is different from its plural reflexive pronoun ("yourselves"); with "they" one can hear either "themself" or "themselves" for the singular reflexive pronoun.
Singular "they" has also been compared tonosism (such as the "royal we"), when a single person uses first-person plural in place of first-person singular pronouns.[158] Similar to singular "you", its singular reflexive pronoun ("ourself") is different from the plural reflexive pronoun ("ourselves").
While the pronoun set derived fromit is primarily used for inanimate objects,it is frequently used in an impersonal context when someone's identity is unknown or established on a provisional basis, e.g. "Who isit?" or "With this new haircut, no one knowsit is me."[159]It is also used for infants of unspecified gender but may be considered dehumanizing and is therefore more likely in a clinical context. Otherwise, in more personal contexts, the use ofit to refer to a person might indicate antipathy or other negative emotions.[160]
It can also be used for non-human animals of unspecified sex, thoughthey is common for pets and other domesticated animals of unspecified sex, especially when referred to by a proper name[160] (e.g.Rags,Snuggles). Normally, birds and mammals with a known sex are referred to by their respective male or female pronoun (he andshe;him andher).
Like singular you, singularthey is treated as a grammatical plural and takes a plural verb.
...the most natural-sounding verb is the one to use. 'They' always goes with a plural verb...
Sources of original examples
Usethemselves as the reflexive/intensive pronoun to refer to an indefinite gender-neutral noun or pronoun that is the subject of the sentence and avoidthemself.
... our pronounthey was originally borrowed into English from the Scandinavian language family ... and since then has been doing useful service in English as the morphosyntactically plural but singular-antecedent-permitting gender-neutral pronoun known to linguists as singularthey.
