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Is there any suitable alternative to using both gender specific pronouns in such cases?

Example:

Client uses his/her account.

Saturn
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    I was wondering the same thing. More specifically, whether or not "Client uses their account" is correct. Should it be "Client uses its account"? Or something else perhaps? Anyone? – Jochem Kuijpers Nov 29 '15 at 15:47
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    @JochemKuijpers Some say "their" is correct, some say it isn't. It is certainly used by some native speakers. – Matt Samuel Nov 29 '15 at 15:56
  • @MattSamuel The issue I'm having is that "their" usually refers to a plural subject, right? E.g.: "The kids play in the mud. Their clothes are dirty." I realize not everything a native speaker says is correct, so I'd like to know the reason why it would or wouldn't be correct. – Jochem Kuijpers Nov 29 '15 at 16:14
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    @JochemKuijpers Actually in descriptive linguistics the assumption is that everything that a native speaker of a dialect believes is correct is automatically correct in that dialect. It's not new, though; it was used historically for singular gender netural and thought to be correct then. That's as far as the knowledge off the top of my head really goes, but Wikipedia has an article on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they – Matt Samuel Nov 29 '15 at 16:20
  • @MattSamuel Thanks! That's really helpful. I just happened to find out about "singular they" myself and thought I'd post it here, but you beat me to it. You might consider posting this as an answer. – Jochem Kuijpers Nov 29 '15 at 16:27
  • also related: 140 posts for "gender neutral pronoun" – Mari-Lou A Nov 29 '15 at 16:51

1 Answers1

1

Client uses their account.

Would be correct usage of the singular they. 1 2 3

Another strategy is to avoid the singular:

Clients use their accounts.

Though that isn't required.

Another gender-neutral 3rd-person singular personal pronoun that is often forgotten is: one.

One can't be too careful.

candied_orange
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