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I saw the sentence: "the crowd took its guns and its swords" in French the other day; now I'm wondering if it's right in English. Since the crowd is singular, why do we say "their guns and their swords"?

This question is asking about pronoun agreement. The linked-to answer concerns verb agreement. In addition the answers there say that verb agreement may be driven by pronoun agreement later in the verb phrase! So it seems that the answers there presuppose the possible existence of plural pronouns, but don't say when or why PRONOUNS (not verbs) should be plural in the case of mass nouns.

Araucaria - Him
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User
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  • @ChappoHasn'tForgottenMonica That's not correct, though. Pronouns rarely refer to nouns or noun phrases, they refer to the same entities that some other nouns or noun phrases refer to. In British English these may very often be different in terms of number, and even in American English may have to be. Consider: The committee have each been given a copy of the report and *The committee has each been given a copy of the report – Araucaria - Him May 10 '21 at 22:09

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You are right that the crowd is singular and that we should technically use singular pronouns. However, since we don't know the gender of the crowd, we can't just say "his" or "her". We can't say "its" either because that is reserved for non-human entities.

Therefore, the best option is either "his or her" or "their". "His or her" sounds really awkward with "crowd", so most people will say "their".

You are right in terms of grammar rules. The usage of "their" is just a style preference because it sounds more natural.

Another example is this: each guest will receive their badge. Guest is singular, so we should use "his or her". However, "his or her" sounds a bit long and too technical, so we often just use "their".

CuriousCat
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    The pronoun its is used all the time with so-called mass nouns.Here's two and a half billion examples for you! – Araucaria - Him Feb 23 '21 at 17:58
  • "We can't say "its" either because that is reserved for non-human entities." This is mistaken. You're right that it's incorrect (or rude) to refer to a person as "it", but a crowd (or gathering, or group, or mob) isn't a person, it's a thing. – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Feb 23 '21 at 22:34
  • @ChappoHasn'tForgottenMonica So is it correct to use "its"? Sorry, I'm just confused now. – User Feb 24 '21 at 16:28
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    @User Yes, it's correct to say "The crowd took its guns", since (a) "crowd" is singular and the pronoun should match in number, and (b) a crowd is a thing so it's correct to use "its". However, it's not unusual for native speakers to treat some mass nouns as if they're plural. Is this ignorance, or has repeated usage made it acceptable? So if you said "the crowd took their guns with them", most native speakers would think this was OK – but beware, some native speakers would cringe at such misuse of their mother tongue. – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Feb 25 '21 at 17:33