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Home -
Grammar - Everyday Grammar - Problems with
Pronouns and Gender |
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| Problems with Pronouns and Gender |
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 Problems
with Pronouns and Gender
The lesson includes a video program, an audio program
explaining this grammar topic, the script for the audio
program, a words in this story section,
and other important information. |
Video Program
Watch the video program explaining this grammar topic.
Then listen to the audio program explaining this grammar topic. |
Audio Program
Listen to the audio program explaining this
grammar topic. Then read the following written
information. |
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Problems with Pronouns and
Gender |
When I was on the train yesterday, I heard someone say
this: “Someone left their bag on the train.”
Can you find anything wrong with the sentence?
If you looked in a traditional English grammar book, you
would learn that the sentence should be, “Someone left
his bag on the train.” The rule is to use the singular
pronoun “he” when the gender of a person is not known.
But, if you asked native English speakers if there is
something wrong with the sentence, many would probably
answer no.
The pronoun “their” is generally plural. The speaker was
talking about just one person. However, American English
speakers use “their” and “they” as singular pronouns all
the time in spoken English. They use it when the gender
of a person is not known. They also use it when they do
not want to say the gender.
Writers also try to use both “he” and “she” to show they
do not discriminate against females. They might also use
“he/she” or “him/her” instead of choosing one singular
pronoun.
Another approach to this problem is to use a
gender-neutral pronoun - a word that does not show
gender. One place where these pronouns became popular is
in virtual or online communities.
In Sweden, two nursery schools have used the
gender-neutral pronoun, “hen” since 2012. The Swedish
government started using “hen” this year and added it to
the official dictionary.
A student organization at the University of Wisconsin
recommends using gender-neutral pronouns like those in
the following chart to respect transgender individuals.
Teresa Schmedding is an editor at the Daily Herald Media
Group and a member of the American Copy Editors Society
(ACES.)
At a recent meeting of the organization in Pittsburgh,
she says some editors discussed the use of the pronoun
“they.” Ms. Schmedding says some members were unhappy
with the use of “his” or “her” in the stories.
"Language is a constantly evolving thing and we need to
evolve. … It has become so common, in our language now,
that people frequently use the singular ‘they’ all the
time. My question is, what’s the harm?”
Writers look to books like “The Chicago Manual of Style”
for the rules. This book says to use a plural noun, if
possible, and to avoid using the singular pronouns "him"
or "her" when the gender of the subject is not stated.
For example, the sentence
“Each student brought his or her book to class”
would change to
“The students brought their books to class.”
Ms. Schmedding says the most important thing for writers
is to make the language easy to understand.
“The overriding issue is clarity. We want people to
understand what we are saying. So if people already
understand when you use the singular they what you mean,
why make up a new word?”
A look back at the history of English shows that great
writers used they as a singular pronoun. Chaucer,
writing in the 14th century, used it, as did
Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and George Bernard Shaw.
Then in the late 18th century, grammar writers said they
should not be used as a singular pronoun.
Today, many English speakers are saying that, “if
everyone uses it, they must be right.”
I’m Jonathan Evans.
Dr. Jill Robbins wrote this story for Learning English.
Ashley Thompson was the editor. |
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Words in This Story |
- singular
- adj. showing or
indicating no more than one thing
- gender
- n. the state of being
male or female; sex
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discriminate - v.
to unfairly treat a person or group of people
differently from other people or groups
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gender-neutral - adj.
a word or expression that cannot be taken to refer
to one gender only
- virtual
- adj. existing or
occurring on computers or on the Internet
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transgender - adj.
of or relating to people who have a sexual identity
that is not clearly male or clearly female
- copy
editor – n. a
person whose job is to prepare a book, newspaper,
etc., for printing by making sure the words are
correct
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Additional Information |
Here is a chart showing the commonly accepted pronouns and some of the new
gender-neutral pronouns:
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Subject
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Object
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Possessive Adjective
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Possessive Pronoun
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Reflexive
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Masculine
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he laughs
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I hugged him
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his heart warmed
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that is his
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he loves himself
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Feminine
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she laughs
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I hugged her
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her heart warmed
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that is hers
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she loves herself
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Singular 'they'
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they laugh
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I hugged them
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their heart warmed
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that is theirs
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they love themself
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LamdaMOO "spivak" (1991)
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e laughs
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I hugged em
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eir heart warmed
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that is eirs
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e loves emself
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Ze (or zie) and hir
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Ze laughs ("zee")
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I hugged hir ("heer")
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hir heart warmed "heer"
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that is hirs ("heers")
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Ze loves hirself ("heerself")
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* from
The Gender Neutral
Pronoun Blog
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Now it’s your turn. Do you think your language treats
males and females differently? Are there any suggestions
for changing the language? |
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Source: Voice of America |
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Grammar Tips |
Can You Catch These Native Speaker Mistakes?
(Beginner - Listening)
An audio lesson to
help with your understanding of common mistakes. The English is
spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this
audio program. |
Commonly Confused Words: Part One
(Beginner - Listening,
reading)
A video lesson to
help with your understanding of commonly confused
words.
The English is
spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Click here to visit the lesson page. |
Commonly Confused Words: Part One
(Beginner - Listening)
An audio lesson to
help with your understanding of commonly confused
words. The English is
spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this
audio program. |
Commonly Confused Words: Part Two
(Beginner - Listening,
reading)
A video lesson to
help with your understanding of commonly confused
words.
The English is
spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Click here to visit the lesson page. |
Commonly Confused Words: Part Two
(Beginner - Listening)
An audio lesson to
help with your understanding of commonly confused
words. The English is
spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this
audio program. |
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