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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Singular ''they''}}
This is a preview for the new '''MathML rendering mode''' (with SVG fallback), which is availble in production for registered users.
'''Singular ''they''''' is the use of ''[[wiktionary:they|they]]'' (or its [[inflection|inflected]] forms, such as ''them'' or ''their'') to refer to an entity that is not plural, or not necessarily plural.
Though singular ''they'' has a long history of usage and is very common in everyday English, its use has been criticised by prescriptivists.<ref>
{{cite book | last1 = Huddleston | first1 = Rodney | authorlink1 = Rodney Huddleston | last2 = Pullum | first2 = Geoffrey | authorlink2 = Geoffrey K. Pullum | title = [[The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language]] | year = 2002 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge; New York | isbn = 0-521-43146-8 | pages = 493–494 | quote = }}</ref>
It typically occurs in these situations:
*Indeterminate gender&nbsp;– when ''they'' refers to an individual person of unknown or unspecified [[gender]], for example, ''"One student'' failed ''their'' exam". This usage is known as '''epicene ''they'''''.


*Indeterminate [[Grammatical number|number]]&nbsp;– when ''they'' has no definite [[Antecedent (grammar)|antecedent]], or can be interpreted as referring to either a singular or plural entity. This usage is also known as '''generic ''they'''''. For example, in "Anyone who thinks ''they'' have been affected should contact ''their'' doctor", ''they'' and ''their'' are within the scope of the universal, distributive [[Quantification|quantifier]] ''anyone'',<ref name="Givon2001">
If you would like use the '''MathML''' rendering mode, you need a wikipedia user account that can be registered here [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:UserLogin/signup]]
"The use of the plural anaphoric ... pronouns 'they' or 'them' to mark non-reference or vague reference in spoken English is well entrenched, as in:<br />
* Only registered users will be able to execute this rendering mode.
(63) a. If '''anybody''' shows up, tell '''them''' to wait.
* Note: you need not enter a email address (nor any other private information). Please do not use a password that you use elsewhere.
:b. If '''anybody''' did that, '''they''''d be insane."
Talmy Givón, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=gKf5d5pVensC&pg=PA435 ''Syntax: an introduction''], Volume 1, Revised edition, ([[John Benjamins Publishing Company]], 2001), p. 435. ISBN 1-58811-066-4</ref> and can be interpreted as referring to an unspecified individual or to people in general (notwithstanding the fact that "anyone" is strictly grammatically singular).


In some cases, ''they'' is used even when both the number and gender of the subject are known, but the identity of the person is generic, e.g. "If ''some guy'' beat me up, I'd leave ''them''."
Registered users will be able to choose between the following three rendering modes:


Though [[Semantics|semantically]] singular or ambiguous, singular ''they'' remains [[morphology (linguistics)|morphologically]] and [[syntax|syntactically]] plural (e.g. it still takes plural forms of verbs).
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== Summary ==
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Generic ''they'' has indeterminate number:
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* There's not '''a man''' I meet but doth salute me / As if I were '''their''' well-acquainted friend&nbsp;— [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], ''[[The Comedy of Errors]]'', Act IV, Scene 3 (1594)
'''source'''
:(''Their'' can be understood equally well as referring to each man considered one at a time, or to all of them collectively.)
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[[Epicenity|Epicene]] ''they'' has indeterminate gender:
<span style="color: red">Follow this [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering link] to change your Math rendering settings.</span> You can also add a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering-skin Custom CSS] to force the MathML/SVG rendering or select different font families. See [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Math#CSS_for_the_MathML_with_SVG_fallback_mode these examples].
*"It can't be true what the girls at the [[Rectory]] said, that her mother was an opera-dancer—"<br />"'''A person''' can't help '''their''' birth," Rosalind replied with great liberality.&nbsp;— [[William Makepeace Thackeray|Thackeray]], ''[[Vanity Fair (novel)|Vanity Fair]]'' (1848)
:(The relevant person here is [[Vanity Fair (novel)#Becky Sharp|Becky Sharp]]. Thackeray has Rosalind using ''their'' as a polite [[circumlocution]], perhaps avoiding the directness of ''she'' ... ''her'', and generic ''his'' in a context involving only women; or perhaps with Rosalind meaning the statement to apply to people in general with Becky Sharp as an example.)


In neither case is singular ''they'' unambiguously a semantic or morpho-syntactic singular. What it actually [[Agreement (linguistics)|agrees]] with is the plurality implicit in the indeterminacy of [[generic antecedent]]s.<ref name="Givon2001" />
==Demos==


This is explained by [[David Kellogg Lewis|David Lewis's]] analysis of an aspect of the [[logic]] of the [[semantics]] of [[natural language]],<ref>Lewis notes that [[adverbs of quantification]] operate beyond moments to periods, cases and variables generally, sometimes unrestricted, other times restricted by [[conditional sentence|conditionals]]; and he demonstrates how, often, both adverbs and conditionals may not be ''explicitly'' present in natural language, but may be reconstituted in "[[canonical form]]", with [[isomorphism|isomorphic]] [[truth function|truth-functionality]], hence (logically) identical interpretation.
Here are some [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:ListFiles/Frederic.wang demos]:
[[David Kellogg Lewis|David Lewis]], [http://books.google.com/books?id=WA1pJoIfPEEC&pg=PA178&lpg=PA178&dq=essential+readings+%22adverbs+of+quantification%22&source=web&ots=6h-Smn_4XF&sig=5DOB-uJWx7cq-ZR2X-e0rnTorrU 'Adverbs of Quantification'], in EL Keenan (ed.), ''Formal Semantics of Natural Language'', (Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1975), pp. 3–15. Reprinted as chapter 7 in Paul Portner and Barbara H. Partee (eds), ''Formal Semantics: The Essential Readings'', (Blackwell, 2002).</ref>
now called ''[[quantificational variability effect]]'' (QVE).<ref>Berman is usually cited, see the following.
*''The Semantics of Open Sentences''. [[dissertation|PhD thesis]]. [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]], 1991.
*'An Analysis of Quantifier Variability in Indirect Questions'. ''MIT Working Papers in Linguistics'' '''11'''. Edited by Phil Branigan and others. Cambridge: [[MIT Press]], 1989. Pages 1–16.
*'Situation-Based Semantics for Adverbs of Quantification'. In J. Blevins and Anne Vainikka (eds). ''University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers'' '''12'''. Graduate Linguistic Student Association, [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]], 1987.</ref>
Broader research in the area is still active, under the name ''[[donkey pronoun]]s''.<ref>
These are special because they are "bound" in semantics but not syntax. The name is taken from examples in
[[Peter Geach|Peter Thomas Geach]], ''Reference and Generality: An Examination of Some Medieval and Modern Theories'', (Ithaca, New York: [[Cornell University Press]], 1962).</ref>


In this kind of analysis, singular they in English is typically an example of a semantically [[Free variables and bound variables|bound variable]],<ref name="Quine">{{cite journal |first1=Willard V. |last1=Quine |year=1960 |title=Variables Explained Away |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=104 |issue=3 |pages=343–7 |jstor=985250}}</ref>
rather than a simple referential pronoun.<ref>
Or "[[pronoun of laziness]]". Geach, work cited.</ref>
It is most clearly evident in the special case of distributive constructions,<ref>
Since these make the quantification explicit.</ref>
where the preference many languages show for singular pronouns probably gives rise to the ''singular'' in "singular ''they''".<ref>
For, specifically, donkey anaphora analogues in languages other than English, see publications by Adrian Brasoveanu.</ref>


[[Steven Pinker]] proposes the word ''they'' be considered to be a pair of [[homonym]]s&nbsp;— two different words with the same spelling and sound.<ref name="Pinker">[[Steven Pinker]], ''[[The Language Instinct]]'', 1994. [http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/s-pinker.html Quoted online.]</ref>
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* ''Those ladies'' over there are wearing '''their'''[1] best clothes. <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Definiteness|definite]], plural, referring pronoun]
==Test pages ==
* On a day like today, ''anyone'' would want to wear '''their'''[2] best clothes. [indefinite, generic and epicene, non-referring anaphor]


== Usage ==
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=== Generic ''he'' ===
*[[Inputtypes|Inputtypes (private Wikis only)]]
 
*[[Url2Image|Url2Image (private Wikis only)]]
Modern codification of the rule in English can be found in the mid 18th century with Anne Fisher's ''A New Grammar'',<ref>[http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/femgram.htm ''Female grammarians of the eighteenth century'']</ref><ref>[http://books.google.ca/books?id=UgjobddCa18C&lpg=PP1&dq=grammar%20and%20usage&pg=PA185#v=onepage&q=singular%20they&f=false ''Basic Grammar And Usage'']</ref> generic use of the pronoun ''he'' has been preferred (but not required) in such constructions by many contemporary grammar and usage books.
==Bug reporting==
 
If you find any bugs, please report them at [https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=MediaWiki%20extensions&component=Math&version=master&short_desc=Math-preview%20rendering%20problem Bugzilla], or write an email to math_bugs (at) ckurs (dot) de .
In the 19th century, grammarians in England petitioned the British Parliament to declare gender-indeterminate pronouns as 'he' rather than 'they', which was common usage at the time.<ref>[[Dale Spender]], ''[[Man Made Language]]'', 1990.</ref>
 
Continuing the trend away from singular they, an 1896 grammar notes:
{{quote|'''410'''. ... when the antecedent includes both masculine and feminine, or is a distributive word, taking in each of many persons,—the '''preferred''' method is to put the pronoun following in the masculine singular; if the antecedent is neuter, preceded by a distributive, the pronoun will be neuter singular.<ref>
[[W. M. Baskervill]] and [[J. W. Sewell]], [http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wmbaskervill/bl-wmbaskervill-grammar-syntax-pronouns.htm ''An English Grammar''], 1896.
Emphasis added.</ref>}}
 
==== Examples of generic ''he'' ====
* ''Who'' of thise wormes shall be byten, ''He'' must have triacle; Yf not that, ''he'' shall deye.&nbsp;— [[William Caxton|Caxton]], ''Dialogues in French and English.'' (c.&nbsp;1484)<ref>{{Cite book
|title=Dialogues in French and English
|year=1890
|last1=Caxton
|first1=William
|editor1-last=Bradley
|editor1-first=Henry
|publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]]
|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29214/29214-h/29214-h.htm
|pages=38f
|accessdate=2011-11-18
|origyear=c.&nbsp;1489
|postscript=<!--None-->
}}</ref>
* ''Every person'' who turns this page has ''his'' own little diary.&nbsp;— Thackeray
* Suppose the life and fortune of ''every one of us'' would depend on ''his'' winning or losing a game of chess.&nbsp;— [[Thomas Henry Huxley|Thomas Huxley]], 'A Liberal Education' (1868)
* If ''any one'' did not know it, it was ''his'' own fault.&nbsp;— [[George Washington Cable]], ''Old Creole Days'' (1879)
* ''Everyone'' has the right of equal access to public service in ''his'' country.&nbsp;— ''[[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]'' (1948)
* It would not be as if ''the lone astronaut'' would be completely ''by himself''.&nbsp;— Nancy Atkinson, [http://www.universetoday.com/2008/03/04/a-one-way-one-person-mission-to-mars/ "A One Way One Person Mission to Mars"] (4 March 2008)
* Kitchen table issues ... are ones ''the next president'' can actually do something about if ''he'' actually cares about it. More likely if she cares about it!"&nbsp;— [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]], presidential campaign rally (12 May 2008)<ref>
Alex Spillius , "[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1949789/US-elections-Hillary-Clinton-about-to-drop-out.html US elections: Hillary Clinton 'about to drop out']", ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' 12 May 2008.</ref>
 
Generic ''he'' is still current English usage, though the [[Gender-neutral language in English|gender neutral language]] movement discourages this use.
 
=== Generic ''they'' ===
Generic ''he'' has been a '''preference''' in usage, not a binding grammatical "rule", as Thackeray's use of both forms demonstrates. "The alternative to the masculine generic with the longest and most distinguished history in English is the third-person plural pronoun. Recognized writers have used ''they'', ''them'', ''themselves'', and ''their'' to refer to singular nouns such as ''one'', ''a person'', ''an individual'', and ''each'' since the 1300s."<ref>'They with Singular Antecedent', ''American Heritage Book of English Usage: A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English'', 1996.</ref>
 
==== Examples of generic ''they'' ====
*''Eche of theym'' sholde ... make ''theymselfe'' redy.&nbsp;— [[William Caxton|Caxton]], ''Sonnes of Aymon'' (c.&nbsp;1489)<ref>{{Cite book
|title=The right plesaunt and goodly historie of the foure sonnes of Aymon
|year=1884
|last1=Caxton
|first1=William
|editor1-last=Richardson
|editor1-first=Octavia
|publisher=[[Early English Text Society]]
|url=http://www.archive.org/details/rightplesauntno4400caxtuoft
|pages=38f
|accessdate=2010-02-04
|origyear=c.&nbsp;1489
|postscript=<!--None-->
}}</ref>
*Arise; ''one'' knocks. / ... / Hark, how ''they'' knock! &nbsp;— Shakespeare, ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' (c.&nbsp;1595)
*'Tis meet that some more audience than ''a mother'', since nature makes ''them'' partial, should o'erhear the speech.&nbsp;—  Shakespeare, ''[[Hamlet]]''
*I would have ''everybody'' marry if ''they'' can do it properly.&nbsp;— [[Jane Austen|Austen]], ''[[Mansfield Park (novel)|Mansfield Park]]'' (1814)
*That's always your way, Maim—always sailing in to help ''somebody'' before ''they're'' hurt.&nbsp;— [[Mark Twain]], ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' (1884)
*Caesar: "No, Cleopatra. ''No man'' goes to battle to be killed." / Cleopatra: "But ''they'' do get killed".&nbsp;— [[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw]], ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (play)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'' (1901)
 
However, in some of these sentences, there is a component of pluralness in the meaning of "they".
 
Of the example from Shaw, the ''[[Merriam-Webster]] Dictionary of English Usage'' (1989) states:
"It would be a violation of English idiom to use a singular pronoun in [that] sentence (But he does get killed) on the assumption that because ''no man'' is singular in form and governs a singular verb, it must take a singular pronoun in reference. [[Notional agreement]] is in control, and its dictates must be followed."<ref>The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage (1989), p. 903.</ref>
In other words, ''no man'' is syntactically singular, demonstrated by taking the singular form ''goes''; however, it is semantically plural (''all'' go [to kill] not to be killed), hence idiomatically requiring generic or plural (''not'' singular) ''they''.
 
Despite such use of ''they'' by admired writers for many centuries, many Americans avoid use of ''they'' to refer to a singular antecedent out of respect for a purported grammatical rule.<ref name="AmericanHeritageThey"/> A majority of ''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]'' usage panel generally claimed to "reject the use of ''they'' with singular antecedents," though this depended on the context and the semantics of the individual sentence; thus 82% of the panelists found the sentence "The typical student in the program takes about six years to complete their course work" to be unacceptable, but 64% accepted ''No one is willing to work for those wages anymore, are they?'' in informal speech.<ref name="AmericanHeritageThey">{{cite book|title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|edition=4th |year=2006|origyear=2000|location=Boston|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn= 978-0-618-70172-8|page=1796}}</ref>
 
Both generic ''he'' and generic ''they'' have long histories of use, and both are still used. However, both are also systematically avoided by particular groups. Style guides that avoid expressing a preference for either approach recommend recasting generic expressions as plurals to avoid the criticisms of either party.
 
Irrespective of the debate, when used, generic ''they'' can be seen to have an implication of indefinite reference (indefinite number or indefinite gender). It is most commonly used with indefinite referents of a distributive nature such as ''someone'', ''anyone'', ''everyone'', and ''no one''. Such references are not to one particular person but to a large group taken one at a time, causing influence from the implied plural.
 
=== Other alternatives ===
 
There are also a number of other [[Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns#Alternatives to generic he|alternative gender-neutral pronouns]] to the generic ''he'', including (but not limited to) ''he or she'', ''(s)he'', and proposed pronouns like ''e'' and ''thon''.
 
== Grammatical analysis ==
According to the [[traditional grammar|traditional analysis]], [[English personal pronouns]] are typically used to refer backward (or forward) within a sentence to a [[noun phrase]] (which may be a simple [[noun]]).
 
{|class="wikitable"
|+Inflected forms
|-
! ||  [[Nominative case|Nominative]] (subject)|| [[Accusative case|Accusative]] (object) || [[Possessive adjective|Prenominal possessive]] || [[Possessive pronoun|Predicative possessive]] || [[Reflexive pronoun|Reflexive]]
|-
|'''[[He]]''' || ''He'' laughs. || I hug ''him.'' || ''His'' hair grows. || I use ''his.'' || He feeds ''himself.''
|-
|'''[[She]]''' || ''She'' laughs. || I hug ''her.'' || ''Her'' hair grows. || I use ''hers.'' || She feeds ''herself.''
|-
|'''Prototypical [[they]]''' || When my children watch ''[[The Simpsons]]'', ''they'' laugh. || Whether they win or lose, I hug ''them.'' || As long as people live, ''their'' hair grows. || Most of my friends have cell phones, so I use ''theirs.'' || The children feed ''themselves.''
|-
|'''Singular ''they'''''|| When I tell someone a joke ''they'' laugh. || When I greet a friend I hug ''them.'' || When someone does not get a haircut, ''their'' hair grows long. || If my mobile phone runs out of power, a friend that I am with lets me borrow ''theirs.'' || Each child feeds ''themself''. (nonstandard)
|- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa;"
|'''Generic ''he'''''|| When I tell someone a joke ''he'' laughs. || When I greet a friend I hug ''him.'' || When someone does not get a haircut, ''his'' hair grows long. || If my mobile phone runs out of power, a friend that I am with lets me borrow ''his.'' || Each child feeds ''himself.''
|}
 
Plural
* ''All good students'' do '''their''' homework.
Generic (indeterminate number)
* ''A good student'' is known for doing '''his''' homework OR
* ''A good student'' is known for doing '''their''' homework
Singular
* ''Mary'' is known for doing '''her''' homework
 
In the middle two of these example sentences, traditional grammars speak of the pronoun referring to ''a good student''. However, following analysis by [[Willard Van Orman Quine|Quine]],<ref name="Quine" /> writers like Lewis (above) understand structures involving generic antecedents to be a logically distinct class. Pinker notes the pronouns are not in fact referring to anything in particular. [[Geoffrey Pullum]] uses the [[logic]]al, rather than grammatical, term ''[[Free variables and bound variables|bound variable]]'' to describe such expressions.
 
Irrespective of how such cases are explained grammatically, however, both are well-formed English sentences. Both are attested in English literature prior to the 20th century, and both are still attested in 21st-century English.<ref>Huddleston and Pullum, ''Student's Introduction,'' p.105.</ref><ref>"For those listening or reading, it has become unremarkable&nbsp;– an element of common usage."</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Peters |first=Pam |title=The Cambridge Guide to English Usage |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-62181-X}}</ref>
 
Singular ''they'', although [[morphology (linguistics)|morphologically]] a plural pronoun, is often used in those circumstances when an indefinite number is signified by an indefinite singular antecedent; for example,
* ''The person you mentioned, are they coming?'', not <nowiki>*</nowiki>''... is they coming?''
Some uses of singular ''they'' follow a grammatical rule whereby singular indefinite antecedents (such as ''everyone, anyone, no one,'' and ''all'') are followed by a coordinate or independent clause containing the plural pronoun 'they'. The plural reflexive form ''themselves'' is used as well, with some speakers using the nonstandard singular form ''themself'', in particular with semantically singular ''they''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/themselves-or-themself|title=Themselves or themself?|work=oxforddictionaries.com|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|accessdate=18 February 2012}}</ref>
 
Even when referring to a male person, ''they'' is sometimes found with singular ''they''.<ref name=Newman>Michael Newman (1996) ''Epicene pronouns: The linguistics of a prescriptive problem''; Newman (1997) "What can pronouns tell us? A case study of English epicenes", ''Studies in language'' 22:2, 353–389.</ref> For example: "A teenage boy rarely thinks about '''their''' future."<ref name=Newman/>{{Failed verification|date=February 2014}}
 
Many other modern uses follow the prescription of gender-neutral English in the style manuals of various organizations. As the syntactically singular third-person pronouns of English are all either gender-specific (''he'' and ''she'') or inappropriate for reference to people (''it''), singular ''they'' is also often used where the sex of the referent is either unknown or irrelevant:
* A child becomes an adult when they turn 18.
* Someone called for you, but they did not leave a message.
* One person died early Sunday when the all-terrain vehicle they were riding hit a tree that had fallen over a road.
 
=== Logical analysis ===
 
==== Distribution ====
Distributive constructions apply a ''single'' idea to ''multiple'' members of a group.
They are typically marked in English by words like ''each'', ''every'' and ''any''. The simplest examples are applied to groups of two, and use words like ''either'' and ''or''—"Would you like tea or coffee?".  Since distributive constructions apply an idea relevant to each individual in the group, rather than to the group as a whole, they are most often conceived of as singular, and a singular pronoun is used.
*[[England expects that every man will do his duty]].&nbsp;— [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Nelson]] (1806, referring to a fleet crewed by male sailors)
*Every dog hath his day.
:— [[John Ray]], ''A Collection of English Proverbs'', 1670
:originally from [[Plutarch]], ''Moralia'', c. 95 AD, regarding the death of [[Euripides]]
However, many languages, including English, show ambivalence in this regard. Because distribution also requires a group with more than one member, plural forms are sometimes used.<ref>
"Either the plural or the singular may be acceptable for a true bound pronoun.<br />
(59) Every student thinks she / they is / are smart." (p. 142.)<br />
[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~ctjhuang/ C.-T. James Huang] (1995), "[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=EHuiqtSwgv8C&pg=PA125 Logical form]", pages 125–240 in Gert Webelhuth, ''[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=EHuiqtSwgv8C Government and binding theory and the minimalist program]: principles and parameters in syntactic theory'', [[Wiley-Blackwell]]. ISBN 0-631-18061-3</ref>
 
==== Variables ====
The term ''variable'' arises due to the interest mathematicians, logicians, philosophers of language, theoretical linguists and computer language designers have in [[formal language]] representations of natural language.
The concept of free and bound variables arose in logic well before Quine discussed its relevance to the English language.
Pinker argues that usage of singular they in English cannot be criticized, because it is probably better understood as a linguistic marker of a bound variable rather than as a pronoun with a referent. "On logical grounds, then, variables are not the same thing as the more familiar 'referential' pronouns that trigger number agreement."<ref name="Pinker" /> He gives the following example.
 
{{quote|''Everyone returned to their seat'' means 'For all X, X returned to X's seat.' The 'X' does not refer to any particular person or group of people. ... The ''their'' there ... refers neither to one thing nor to many things; it does not refer at all.
 
''Everyone'' and ''they'' are not an 'antecedent' and a 'pronoun' .... They are a 'quantifier' and a 'bound variable,' a different logical relationship.<ref name="Pinker" />}}
 
Pinker's example demonstrates the acceptability of plural forms in distributive constructions:
* plural ''they''&nbsp;— ''Everyone'' returned to ''their'' '''seats'''.
However, additional issues are raised by the attested usage of the logically equivalent alternative constructions of this distributive expression, using:
* generic ''they''&nbsp;— ''Everyone'' returned to ''their'' '''seat''', or
* generic ''he''&nbsp;— ''Everyone'' returned to ''his'' '''seat'''.
 
== Gender-neutral language movement ==
In the late 20th century, the [[feminist]] movement expressed concern regarding the use of generic ''he'' in the English language. The feminist claim was that such usage contributes to an assumption that maleness is "standard," and that femaleness is "different". It also claimed that such use is [[misogyny|misogynistic]]. One response to this was an increase in the use of generic ''she'' in academic journal articles from around this time. However, the more common response has been prescriptive, with many institutions publishing gender neutral style guides, notably in government, academia and publishing.<ref>Some examples: [http://www.federationpress.com.au/Style%20Guide.pdf Federation Press Style Guide for use in preparation of book manuscripts]{{dead link|date=February 2010}} (PDF file); [http://mulr.law.unimelb.edu.au/aglc.asp Australian Guide to Legal Citation]{{dead link|date=February 2010}}</ref> For example, ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage'' (2004) expresses several preferences. "Generic/universal ''their'' provides a gender-free pronoun, avoiding the exclusive ''his'' and the clumsy ''his/her''."
<blockquote>It avoids gratuitous sexism and gives the statement broadest reference....''They'', ''them'', ''their'' are now freely used in agreement with singular indefinite pronouns and determiners, those with universal implications such as any(one), every(one), no(one), as well as each and some(one), whose reference is often more individual....For those listening or reading, it has become unremarkable—an element of common usage.<ref>''Cambr. Guide to Eng. Usage'' (2004), p. 538</ref>
</blockquote>
The use of masculine generic nouns and pronouns in written and spoken language has decreased since the 1960s.<ref>Pauwels 2003, p. 563.</ref> In a corpus of spontaneous speech collected in Australia in the 1990s, singular ''they'' had become the most frequently used generic pronoun.<ref>Pauwels, (p. 564)</ref> The increased usage of singular ''they'' may be at least partly due to an increasing desire for [[gender-neutral language]]; while writers a hundred years ago might have had no qualm using ''he'' with a referent of indeterminate gender, writers today often feel uncomfortable with this. One solution in formal writing has often been to write ''he or she'', or something similar, but this is considered awkward when used excessively, overly [[political correctness|politically correct]],<ref>Lou Ann Matossian, ''[http://www.ircs.upenn.edu/download/techreports/1998/98-13b.pdf Burglars, Babysitters, and Persons: A Sociolinguistic Study of Generic Pronoun Usage in Philadelphia and Minneapolis]'' (University of Pennsylvania, 1997). Retrieved 10 June 2006.</ref> or both.
 
== Acceptability ==
 
In certain contexts, singular ''they'' may sound less obtrusive and more natural than generic ''he'', or ''he or she''. One guide offered the following example:
 
{{quote|Nobody in their right mind would do a thing like that.<ref>Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; ISBN 0-521-84837-7), pp. 103–105.</ref>}}
 
Some usage guides accept or recommend singular uses of ''they'' not just in cases where there is an element of semantic plurality expressed by a word such as "everyone" but also where an indeterminate ''person'' is referred to, citing examples of such usage even in formal speech. For instance, Casey Miller and Kate Swift, in ''The Handbook of Non-Sexist Writing'', quote Ronald Reagan:<blockquote>"You must identify the person who has the power to hire you and show them how your skills can help them with their problems."<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Miller | first1 = Casey | last2 = Swift | first2 = Kate | editor  = Kate Mosse | title  = The Handbook of Non-Sexist Writing for Writers, Editors and Speakers  | edition = 3rd| origyear = 1981 | year = 1995 | publisher = The Women's Press | isbn = 0-7043-4442-4 | page = 50 }}</ref></blockquote>
However, use of ''they'' for persons of indeterminate gender existed long before the modern gender-neutral language movement; as  attested by ''Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'': <blockquote>"They are uses following a normal pattern in English that was established four centuries before the 18th-century grammarians invented the solecism."<ref name="MW Usage They">{{cite book|author=Merriam-Webster, Inc|title=Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage|year=1994|edition=2nd|publisher=Merriam-Webster|isbn=978-0-87779-132-4|pages=902–903}}</ref></blockquote>
 
Examples given<ref name="MW Usage They"/> are:
*"We can only know an actual person by observing their behaviour in a variety of different situations." (George Orwell)
*". . . unless a person takes a deal of exercise,they may soon eat more than does them good." (Herbert Spencer, 1904)
*"A person can't help their birth" (W. M. Thackeray, 1848)<ref name="MW Usage They"/>
 
Singular ''they'' is occasionally used to refer to an indeterminate person whose gender is known, as in ''No mother should be forced to testify against their child''.
 
Some college handbooks, such as ''The Little, Brown Handbook'', continue to view singular ''they'' as grammatically inconsistent, and recommend either recasting in the plural or avoiding the pronoun altogether.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fowler |first=Henry Ramsey |coauthors=Jane E. Aaron |title=The Little, Brown Handbook |edition = 5th |year=1992 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0-673-52132-X|pages=300–301}} N.B.: This is not the English usage authority [[Henry Watson Fowler]].</ref> Others say that there is no sufficient reason not to extend singular ''they'' to include specific people of unknown gender, as well as to [[gender variance|gender non-conforming]], [[bigender]], [[intersex]] and [[androgyne]] people, and those who do not identify exclusively with either gender.<ref>Amy Warenda, "[http://wac.colostate.edu/journal/vol4/warenda.pdf They]", ''Writing across the Curriculum'' 4 (April 1993): 89–97 (PDF file; URL accessed September 17, 2006)</ref>{{Failed verification|date=February 2014}}<ref>Juliane Schwarz, "[http://www.uce.ac.uk/crq/individual-pubs/juliane/handout-bristol.pdf Non-sexist language at the beginning of the 21st century: A feminist topic in a post-feminist era]", research colloquium handout, 2003 (PDF file; URL accessed June 10, 2005){{deadlink|date=February 2014}}</ref>{{rs?|date=February 2014}}<!--apparently unpublished handout--><ref>see also Baranowski 2002.</ref>{{Request quotation|date=February 2014}}
 
Some manuals of style remain neutral on the subject while other style manuals explicitly reject the use of singular ''they'' in grammar. According to the ''Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association'', a pronoun must agree in both gender and number with the noun it replaces. The APA manual offers the following example as "incorrect" reflexive usage:
 
{{quote|Neither the highest scorer nor the lowest scorer in the group had any doubt about their competence.<ref>''Publication manual of the American Psychological Association'' (5th Ed.). (2001). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. p. 47.</ref>}}
 
while also specifically taking a stand that generic ''he'' is unacceptable (p.&nbsp;66). The APA recommends using ''he or she'', recasting the sentence with a plural subject to allow correct use of ''they'', or simply rewriting the sentence to avoid issues with gender or number.
 
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) also maintains that pronouns should agree in number with their antecedents, and that the singular ''they'' is incorrect usage, but suggests use of a plural noun with ''they'' when gender is unclear.<ref>[http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/595/01/ The OWL at Purdue]. Retrieved August 30, 2013.</ref>
 
By definition, debate about whether singular ''they'' is acceptable or not lies within the realm of [[linguistic prescription|prescriptive grammar]].  Current debate relates  not only to [[grammar]] but also to wider questions of [[political correctness]] and [[Civil rights|equal rights]], and in particular, the extent to which [[Linguistic relativity|language influences thought]].
 
There has been considerable debate as to the acceptability of singular ''they''.
Regarding usage, ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' notes:
<blockquote>
A singular antecedent requires a singular referent pronoun. Because ''he'' is no longer accepted as a
generic pronoun referring to a person of either sex, it has become common in speech and in informal
writing to substitute the third-person plural pronouns ''they'', ''them'', ''their'', and ''themselves'', and the
nonstandard singular ''themself''. While this usage is accepted in casual contexts, it is still considered
ungrammatical in formal writing. . . . Employing an artificial form such as ''s/he'' is distracting at best, and most readers find it
ridiculous. There are several better ways to avoid the problem. For example, use the traditional,
formal ''he or she'', ''him or her'', ''his or her'', ''himself or herself''.<ref>Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, (2010): 5.46.</ref>
</blockquote>
With the 14th edition (1993), ''Chicago'' briefly revised its neutral stance to actually recommend "singular use of ''they'' and ''their''", noting a "revival" of this usage and citing "its venerable use by such writers as Addison, Austen, Chesterfield, Fielding, Ruskin, Scott, and Shakespeare."<ref>Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition, (1993): p. 76-77.</ref> However, regret regarding that printing is expressed at its website; and with the 15th edition (2003), it returned to its original neutral position.<ref>[http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Pronouns/faq0018.html Chicago Manual of Style Q&A]</ref>
 
The 2011 translation of the [[New International Version]] [[Bible]] uses singular they instead of "he" or "he or she", reflecting changes in English usage, the translators having commissioned a study of modern English usage and determined that singular "they" ("them"/"their") is by far the most common way that English-language speakers and writers today refer back to singular antecedents such as "''whoever'', ''anyone'', ''somebody'', ''a person'', ''no one'', and the like."<ref>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/17/AR2011031703434.html|title=New Bible draws critics of gender-neutral language|date=17 March 2011|accessdate=23 November 2013}}</ref>
 
==Cognitive efficiency ==
In the light of increasing use of the plural pronoun ''they'' to refer to morphologically singular antecedents, there have been a few studies that have attempted to determine whether such usage is more "difficult" to understand.
One such study, "In Search of Gender Neutrality: Is Singular ''They'' a Cognitively Efficient Substitute for Generic ''He''?" by Foertsch and Gernsbacher found that "singular ''they'' is a cognitively efficient substitute for generic ''he'' or ''she'', particularly when the antecedent is nonreferential" (e.g. ''anybody'' or ''a nurse'') rather than referring to a specific person (e.g. ''a runner I knew'' or ''my nurse'') . Clauses with singular ''they'' were read "just as quickly as clauses containing a gendered pronoun that matched the stereotype of the antecedent" (e.g. ''she'' for a nurse and ''he'' for a truck driver) and "much more quickly than clauses containing a gendered pronoun that went against the gender stereotype of the antecedent".{{R|Foertsch 1997 }}
 
===Comparison with other pronouns===
The singular and plural use of ''they'' can be compared with the pronoun ''you'', which originally was only plural, but by about 1700 replaced ''thou'' for singular referents,{{R|Peters 2004 |page1=538}} while retaining the plural verb form.
 
== Comparison with other languages ==
{{off-topic|date=February 2014}} <!--The connection with singular they is very tenuous -->
If, following Pinker's proposal, ''they'' is considered as a pair of homonyms, this would be analogous to a language like [[Basque language|Basque]], which uses the word ''nork'' both as an indeterminate pronoun meaning "who" and also as a marker in distributive constructions.
 
<blockquote><div>
Basque has two ways of expressing universal distributive quantifications: (i) lexically, through the quantifier ''bakoitz'' 'each'; (ii) configurationally, through the construction exemplified in (1).
{|
|-
|(1)
|''Nork/zeinek''
|''bere''
|''ama''
|''ikusi''
|''du''
|-
|
|who-erg/which-erg
|his/her
|mother
|seen
|has
|-
|
|colspan=5|'Everyone saw his/her mother'
|}
In (1), an indeterminate pronoun takes on a universal distributive value. Such a value is not a lexical property of the relevant indeterminate pronouns.<ref>[http://www.iker.cnrs.fr/ricardoetxeparea.htm Ricardo Etxepare,]{{dead link|date=February 2010}} [http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/SALT/SALTFiles/EtxepareSalt15.pdf 'Indeterminate pronouns and universal quantification in Basque',] (''University of California, Los Angeles, Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference'' '''15''', unpublished paper, 2005).</ref>
</div></blockquote>
 
Basque is far from the only example of this. [[S.-Y. Kuroda]] considered it typical of [[East Asia]]n languages, [[Japanese language|Japanese]] and [[Korean language|Korean]] in particular.<ref>[[S.-Y. Kuroda]], ''An Integrated Theory of Linguistic Description'', (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1969).<!-- Page? --></ref> Yet other languages have even more particular ways of expressing distribution and [[quantification]]. [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]], structurally similar to Basque, uses a nominal suffix, ''{{Lang|sux|dedli}}'', to indicate "each individual".<ref>Dietz Otto Edzard, ''Hand buch der Orientalistik'', (Leiden: Brill, 2003).</ref> Some suggest that such a linguistic dispute is typical of [[Indo-European language]]s, especially Slavic languages such as Russian, Polish or Bulgarian where the system of singular and plural nouns is quite complex.
 
== See also ==
* [[Agreement (linguistics)]]
* [[Bound variable pronoun]]
* [[English personal pronouns]]
* [[Gender-neutral language in English]]
* [[Gender-neutral pronoun]]
* [[Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns]]
* [[Genderqueer]]
* [[Notional agreement]]
* [[Spivak pronoun]]
* [[They]]
 
== References ==
{{Reflist|2
|refs=
<ref name="Foertsch 1997">{{cite journal | last1 = Foertsch | first1 = Julie | last2 = Gernsbacher | first2 = Morton Ann |date=March 1997 | title = In Search of Gender Neutrality: Is Singular ''They'' a Cognitively Efficient Substitute for Generic ''He''? | url = http://gernsbacherlab.org/wp-content/uploads/papers/1/Foertsch_Gender-Neutrality-They-or-He_PS_1997.pdf | format = pdf | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 8 | issue = 2 | pages = 106–111 }}</ref>
<ref name = "Peters 2004">{{cite book
|last=Peters |first=Pam |title=The Cambridge Guide to English Usage |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |url= http://books.google.de/books?id=iTvEu0mtqHMC |isbn=9783125331877}}
</ref>
}}
 
== External links ==
*"[http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/linguafranca/anyone-who-had-a-heart-would-know-their-own/3343308#transcript Anyone who had a heart (would know their own language)]" by Geoff Pullum. Transcript of a radio talk. ''
 
{{English gender-neutral pronouns}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singular They}}
[[Category:Disputes in English grammar]]
[[Category:Modern English personal pronouns]]
[[Category:Grammatical number]]

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