• Gaywallet (they/it)@beehaw.org
    75·
    3 years ago

    Not to be a grammar cop, but they is a gender neutral pronoun which you can use to refer to a person of indeterminate gender. He/she excludes nonbinary individuals.

    • kixikOP
      6·
      3 years ago

      ohh, not my intention, sorry about that. “They” is plural though, and I was referring to a particular individual, and “it” sounded non human… I’ll try improving. BTW, non native English speaker either, hehe, so thanks !

      • Gaywallet (they/it)@beehaw.org
        4·
        3 years ago

        The singular version of they emerged about 100 years after the word was first termed. While some editors had strong opinions about the singular they from the 14th to 18th centuries, some very notable authors during this time such as Shakespeare disagreed (as evidenced by his use of the singular they throughout his works). It was rarely contested as grammatically correct until society became more aware of people who were using it to define their gender identity and transgender individuals found themselves in the public spotlight with their rights being contested. Unsurprisingly the only people contesting whether it is grammatically proper today are the very same people who do not believe that transgender people deserve the same rights.

        • kixikOP
          3·
          3 years ago

          This is totally new to me, and to be honest, habits are hard to break, so I’ll try to use singular “they” when not sure. Basic/cheap English grammar lessons for non native English speakers never teach you anything about singular “they”. How sad, cause then one who tries to write/speak as best as possible, might not be correct because of how they got to learn a bit of English.

          I know this will sound as blasphemy, but what I’ve read from Skakespeare, I’ve did in Castellano, hehe, so I wouldn’t notice what you mentioned. Good to know.

          • Gaywallet (they/it)@beehaw.org
            2·
            3 years ago

            Basic/cheap English grammar lessons for non native English speakers never teach you anything about singular “they”.

            Honestly, not all that surprising. In many cases where you wouldn’t necessarily know the gender, its when referring to someone by their profession. For example, if you were referring to the person who brought your mail to remark upon the poor handling of a package, you might simply say the mail carrier didn’t treat this with care, instead of they didn’t treat this with care. The vast majority of native English speakers probably use the singular they in passing, but I would be surprised if it’s more often than a few times per month.

            How sad, cause then one who tries to write/speak as best as possible, might not be correct because of how they got to learn a bit of English.

            For what it’s worth you’re doing a wonderful job. Another strategy that I see less often, but am pointing out because you just used the word, is de-gendering language by using indefinite articles, such as ‘one’. Glad to know I’m not the only person who sometimes uses English in this fashion.

            I know this will sound as blasphemy, but what I’ve read from Skakespeare, I’ve did in Castellano, hehe, so I wouldn’t notice what you mentioned. Good to know.

            I would be more surprised if you didn’t read Shakespeare in your native language and I certainly don’t think it’s blasphemy. I’ve read plenty of famous works that were translated to English. We don’t all have time to respect it in its natural form, more so if it’s constructed with archaic grammar and full of words long since abandoned. Most of the Shakespeare I read in school wasn’t in the original form either, and had at least some amount of restructured words and grammar.

      • 56!
        1·
        3 years ago

        I’ve always used “they” when referring to a single person, never really noticed I was doing it, however my mum also insists that “they” is plural.