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I've always thought that using the word "his" as a gender-nonspecific pronoun has been acceptable; in recent years, however, I've been told off by people when I do this, saying it is now "politically" correct you use "her" for a gender-nonspecific pronoun. I've always have, since these occurrences, used "his/her" (or "his or her") instead, though I am now pondering which of these to use, for I am currently writing a paper, and have no idea which pronoun to use; the "his or her" seems a little clunky, and I would much rather prefer an alternative.

This is not a duplicate of this, because I am asking which is generally accepted; also I am unable to use the word "one," as my paper should be understood by little ones. I already know that the use of the singular "they" is frowned upon (by English professors, both mine and others'), and that using a plural noun doesn't work for a good deal of my sentences that encounter this problem.

Any clarification is appreciated!

tchrist
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Conor O'Brien
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    Why on earth would the singular 'they' be frowned upon by professors. It is a time-honoured use, in Britain at any rate. I would always use it to achieve gender neutrality. Many legal documents, since time immemorial, have included a clause which says that words and expressions comporting the male gender shall apply equally to females. – WS2 Dec 04 '14 at 22:11
  • @WS2 Well, maybe it's just my professors, or just American professors. Or maybe because they're trying to make life harder >_<. – Conor O'Brien Dec 04 '14 at 22:12
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    May I suggest you point out to them that the singular they was used in Middle English, as early as the 13th century, and is found in the writings inter alia of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austin, Thackeray and Shaw. Have a look at the Wikmipedia entry on it. – WS2 Dec 04 '14 at 22:19
  • @WS2 That's funny you should suggest that--I did do this, and they gave me a counter example about the Middle English letter Yogh and (not sure about this example) Middle English grammar pluralized name as namen. – Conor O'Brien Dec 04 '14 at 22:26
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    No one would dispute the fact that many Middle English forms have fallen into disuse. But the singular they is not one of them and it survives until this day. It is a long and honourable tradition. – WS2 Dec 04 '14 at 22:33
  • @WS2 Very, very good point. I'll make that point to them. Thanks! – Conor O'Brien Dec 04 '14 at 22:38
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    Singular they was frowned upon by some from the mid-18th to mid-20th century, which was the hey-day of frowning upon perfectly good English uses for no good reason, though funnily enough was when epicene he was most highly favoured. Still, I would hope that at least English professors might know better, since that frowning never did kill singular they and there's never been a time when it wasn't common. – Jon Hanna Dec 05 '14 at 00:34
  • @JanusBahsJacquet This also takes into account the "his or her" factor, so not entire duplicate; may still be considered as such, I fear. – Conor O'Brien Dec 05 '14 at 02:07
  • Hmm. Duplicates don't have to be perfectly identical. They are like a funnel, pointing to the best(-ish) question/answer set. –  Dec 07 '14 at 03:15

1 Answers1

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Personally, when I want to use "gender-nonspecific" pronouns, I stick with their. To me, it in no way specifies a certain gender, unlike his and her, which are obviously used to describe male and female nouns, respectively. For instance, I would take the sentence:

His script was not up to par, compared to the works of his contemporaries.

...and I would change it as so, to make it gender-neutral:

Their script was not up to par, compared to the works of their contemporaries.

It may seem a little redundant, but I think it makes enough sense, and it has worked for me so far. And if you don't like using their, his or her would also work just as well.

tchrist
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MrM21632
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  • Your final sentence is false: Ask anyone you know what he or she thinks about using your given alternate for herself or himself in his or her own daily language, and you’ll find that yours won’t work out at all as well for him or her, and that hers or his is hardly an uncommon perspective in this matter. – tchrist Dec 05 '14 at 00:47