Lots of practical and socio-political factors affect language change. In
my school days in the 1950's and 60's, the taught convention was that
impersonal references took masculine pronouns: "Every student must do
his best." Attitudes about gender have since changed dramatically.
Gender-neutral alternatives were hardly satisfying: "Every student must
do his/her best." "One must do what (s)he must." Writers avoided the
singular whenever possible: "Students must do their best." The simplest
solution was the one that had always been used in informal situations:
treating "they" as a singular, as well as plural, pronoun. Today using
"Everyone must do their best" is widely accepted. Language finds
solutions, and "singular they" seems to be the simplest, easiest one, so
I'd bet on its staying power.
By the way, didn't a similar socio-political thing happen a few
centuries back with plural "you" becoming singular as a polite
alternative to singular "thou"? It proved so successful that it drove
thou/thee from the language.
Dick Veit
________________________________
Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Natalie Gerber
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: more teaching questions on grammar
Dear all,
Thanks to everyone who so kindly responded to my questions on count vs.
noncount nouns. Please let me know if you would prefer that ongoing
teaching questions not be directed to the list; I am teaching grammar
for the first time, and I remain very grateful for the chance to vet
questions here.
My new question involves the use of "they" or "their" with singular
nouns to avoid gender bias; e.g., Each student should leave their
assignment with the techer.
Obviously, recasting the noun as plural is the most elegant solution.
However, Longman and many other authorities, including _Chicago Manual
of Style_, accept the use of they and their, but Hacker's _Rules for
Writers_ rails against it, preferring the awkward phrasing of "he or
she" or "his or hers."
Here's my question: I side with the use of the plural pronoun, but I
don't know whether or not standardized tests on grammar and usage
disagree. Does anyone know whether the new SAT grammar section and essay
penalize for this usage?
Thanks,
Natalie Gerber
SUNY Fredonia
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