In a message dated 8/17/06 10:48:49 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:

The real problem is that there are few if any traditional ideas that need to go. Someone should actually sit down and make a list of ideas that need to be expunged from grammar teaching and you would see there are actually only a few if any. . . . If any one disagrees, please draw up a list of tradtional notions that should be abandonded.

This is not a list, Phil, but I'm tempted to accept "they" as a singular pronoun as in "everyone should bring their lunch." For one thing, it is widely used this way. For another, it avoids the awkward "his or her" construction. And finally, there is historical precedent in our acceptance of the pronoun "you" as both singular and plural.

As I approach the beginning of yet another semester, I don't think I'm quite ready yet to make this (for me) major step . . . but I am tempted.

Peter Adams
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/