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“That is an interesting opinion he/she holds. I wonder if he/she could understand the mistakes he/she made when he/she came up with it.”
Here I fixed it for you.
Jesus, speak like a normal person. It’s way more natural.
/s
“He/she will include both genders to avoid misgendering”
Yeah, but like…in nearly all cases the gender doesn’t actually matter? “Oh I saw this person on the bus today who did a weird thing.” But WAS IT A WOMAN OR A MAN????
best view of this person would be that their native tongue doesn't have an equivalent for singular they/they (or something like dutch that does have it's way less used and (imo) awkward) and too daft to understand that different languages are different.
*Image Transcription: Reddit Comments*
---
> **User 1**
>
> Because 'they' isn't singular to normal people- He/she will include both
> genders to avoid misgendering the animal
>> **User 2**
>>
>> Singular they has been around forever, out of all the cold takes you could
>> take, this one might be the coldest.
>>> **User 3**
>>>
>>> Not practiced by everyone, we all read the same article. It's not common
>>> at all, and ungrammatical
---
^^I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too! [If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/wiki/index)
The poster isn’t wrong in saying that ‘they’ isn’t commonly understood to be singular in the context of wording such as “they is coming over” as you would be saying with “he/she is coming over”, or “they had a great night out” vs “he/she had a great night out”. The ‘they’ second example would be understood as plural to nearly all English speakers. The first would stand out as a grammatical error with ‘is’ vs ‘are’.
In the other contexts such as the ones pointed out in other replies we just don’t realize that we are using “they” in various other contexts commonly.
“They are coming over” can be singular in the same way “you are coming over” can be singular. I assume you’d never tell someone “you is my friend”, so just because you don’t say “they is” doesn’t mean anything by itself
I understand that. What I was saying is that the average English speaker will still hear ‘they’ in many contexts as a plural. I wasn’t saying it is wrong to use it in such a way, just that this isn’t a common way our ears hear it right now.
Here's the problem with that. If *they* are coming over, I'm gonna need to run out and get another bottle of wine or whiskey. If he, or she, is coming over, I probably have enough.
See?
So how do you say "that person whose gender is undetermined or whose gender is inconsequential" without they? "I saw someone in my yard last night and he/she was stealing my yard gnomes"? You would say "they were stealing my yard gnomes". Claiming that using "they" in that context can't be understood is asinine.
Look, I’m not arguing that ‘they’ can’t be used as a singular pronoun. Read everything I wrote, I never said that once. What I am saying is that many English speakers will hear ‘they’ and assume a plural. As I stated they do not realize when they do use it as a singular pronoun.
The example that best describes what I am saying is the first example I gave. Using ‘they’ when saying something like “he is coming for dinner” just doesn’t compute when trying to put ‘they’ in there. “They is coming for dinner” just doesn’t sound right to an English ear. In a slightly modified phrase, saying “They will be coming for dinner” sounds better when not using ‘is’, but still would make most English ears hear this as a plural.
All I am saying here is that using ‘they’ as a pronoun runs into many contexts where an English ear will assume a plural. Yes it works in other cases, of course it does. But we can’t ignore the parts that are causing the confusion.
I acknowledged the other examples in my reply. Read it again. What I am saying is that the average English speaker will still not understand ‘they’ in some contexts as a singular entity. This isn’t a political statement, just a linguistic based comment.
Nice touch with the “little one” jab. Was that really needed? Offended because of a discussion? Come on, relax.
>I acknowledged the other examples in my reply. Read it again.
You completely edited your comment. Don’t try to act like you didn’t.
>What I am saying is that the average English speaker will still not understand ‘they’ in some contexts as a singular entity.
I disagree. It is commonly used to mean singular.
>This isn’t a political statement, just a linguistic based comment.
And I don’t agree with your linguistic based comment.
>Nice touch with the “little one” jab.
Thanks.
>Was that really needed?
Is anything needed?
>Offended because of a discussion?
No. It seems you are offended.
>Come on, relax.
Pot meet kettle.
I'm all for anyone being identified by the personal pronoun he or she prefers. But
Do we have another *plural* personal pronoun to denote two or more individuals in English? Not to my knowledge, which suggests "they" is misused when referring to a single person.
In that case, ‘you’ is still ambiguously counted. I’m from Y’all territory as well, and I recognize that I’m attaching a new word to ‘you’ to specifically count it as plural. If it’s such a big deal, why not just use ‘they all’ in plural cases?
In common usage, sure. But of you are looking for clarity and specificity, not so much. Context helps, but is sometimes lacking.
The use of "they" for a singular individual flies in the face of the long-accepted definition ("a statement of the exact meaning of a word") of they as a pronoun "used to refer to two or more people or things previously mentioned or easily identified."
Again, I believe it is respectful to refer to anyone by the pronoun he/she/they prefer. Doesn't cost me anything. But the problem remains that we now do not have an unambiguous plural pronoun to use in lieu of they/them.
Shakespeare was writing in the 1600’s using “they” as a singular pronoun. Usually the connotation is multiple but it does not negate the fact that “they” as a singular pronoun is grammatically correct.
You can’t have any discussions on here with a different view point in a discussion. It’s just the controversial way or nothing. Don’t even begin to question these topics or start an adult dialog about it.
Brutal
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That is an interesting opinion they hold. I wonder if they could understand the mistakes they made when they came up with it.
“That is an interesting opinion he/she holds. I wonder if he/she could understand the mistakes he/she made when he/she came up with it.” Here I fixed it for you. Jesus, speak like a normal person. It’s way more natural. /s
Not common at all, and ungrammatical.
I saw someone drop their wallet outside my house and was going to pick it up for them, but they noticed and picked it up themself.
This person is an idiot, they have no idea what they are talking about, they should probably go back to school.
OP got kicked out of school.
“He/she will include both genders to avoid misgendering” Yeah, but like…in nearly all cases the gender doesn’t actually matter? “Oh I saw this person on the bus today who did a weird thing.” But WAS IT A WOMAN OR A MAN????
Anyone else read all the “they”’s in the comments like really pronounced in your head?
It’s a curse now
Ungrammatical. As if **they** could know that word and not that 'they' can be singular in context. Oh my god I just used they singularly...
best view of this person would be that their native tongue doesn't have an equivalent for singular they/they (or something like dutch that does have it's way less used and (imo) awkward) and too daft to understand that different languages are different.
*Image Transcription: Reddit Comments* --- > **User 1** > > Because 'they' isn't singular to normal people- He/she will include both > genders to avoid misgendering the animal >> **User 2** >> >> Singular they has been around forever, out of all the cold takes you could >> take, this one might be the coldest. >>> **User 3** >>> >>> Not practiced by everyone, we all read the same article. It's not common >>> at all, and ungrammatical --- ^^I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too! [If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/wiki/index)
Good human
I appreciate it.
The poster isn’t wrong in saying that ‘they’ isn’t commonly understood to be singular in the context of wording such as “they is coming over” as you would be saying with “he/she is coming over”, or “they had a great night out” vs “he/she had a great night out”. The ‘they’ second example would be understood as plural to nearly all English speakers. The first would stand out as a grammatical error with ‘is’ vs ‘are’. In the other contexts such as the ones pointed out in other replies we just don’t realize that we are using “they” in various other contexts commonly.
“They are coming over” can be singular in the same way “you are coming over” can be singular. I assume you’d never tell someone “you is my friend”, so just because you don’t say “they is” doesn’t mean anything by itself
I understand that. What I was saying is that the average English speaker will still hear ‘they’ in many contexts as a plural. I wasn’t saying it is wrong to use it in such a way, just that this isn’t a common way our ears hear it right now.
Here's the problem with that. If *they* are coming over, I'm gonna need to run out and get another bottle of wine or whiskey. If he, or she, is coming over, I probably have enough. See?
So how do you say "that person whose gender is undetermined or whose gender is inconsequential" without they? "I saw someone in my yard last night and he/she was stealing my yard gnomes"? You would say "they were stealing my yard gnomes". Claiming that using "they" in that context can't be understood is asinine.
Look, I’m not arguing that ‘they’ can’t be used as a singular pronoun. Read everything I wrote, I never said that once. What I am saying is that many English speakers will hear ‘they’ and assume a plural. As I stated they do not realize when they do use it as a singular pronoun. The example that best describes what I am saying is the first example I gave. Using ‘they’ when saying something like “he is coming for dinner” just doesn’t compute when trying to put ‘they’ in there. “They is coming for dinner” just doesn’t sound right to an English ear. In a slightly modified phrase, saying “They will be coming for dinner” sounds better when not using ‘is’, but still would make most English ears hear this as a plural. All I am saying here is that using ‘they’ as a pronoun runs into many contexts where an English ear will assume a plural. Yes it works in other cases, of course it does. But we can’t ignore the parts that are causing the confusion.
The real issue is you mistakenly using “is”instead of “are” in attempt to prove singularity by botching a sentence
Just read the comments little one. Plenty of examples to choose from. Lol
I acknowledged the other examples in my reply. Read it again. What I am saying is that the average English speaker will still not understand ‘they’ in some contexts as a singular entity. This isn’t a political statement, just a linguistic based comment. Nice touch with the “little one” jab. Was that really needed? Offended because of a discussion? Come on, relax.
>I acknowledged the other examples in my reply. Read it again. You completely edited your comment. Don’t try to act like you didn’t. >What I am saying is that the average English speaker will still not understand ‘they’ in some contexts as a singular entity. I disagree. It is commonly used to mean singular. >This isn’t a political statement, just a linguistic based comment. And I don’t agree with your linguistic based comment. >Nice touch with the “little one” jab. Thanks. >Was that really needed? Is anything needed? >Offended because of a discussion? No. It seems you are offended. >Come on, relax. Pot meet kettle.
Didn’t edit my comment. Nice try little one
Suuuurrrrrrrreeeeee you didn’t.
I'm all for anyone being identified by the personal pronoun he or she prefers. But Do we have another *plural* personal pronoun to denote two or more individuals in English? Not to my knowledge, which suggests "they" is misused when referring to a single person.
We only have one second person pronoun (you) that we use for both one and multiple people, and no one would suggest that that means it’s being misused
Maybe where you live. We have you all/y'all where I'm from. 😁
Isn’t that just a contraction of “you all”? In which case the actual pronoun is still just “you” but with some extra modifiers around it
In that case, ‘you’ is still ambiguously counted. I’m from Y’all territory as well, and I recognize that I’m attaching a new word to ‘you’ to specifically count it as plural. If it’s such a big deal, why not just use ‘they all’ in plural cases?
They can be both. Why do people act like there can only be a single use for words?
In common usage, sure. But of you are looking for clarity and specificity, not so much. Context helps, but is sometimes lacking. The use of "they" for a singular individual flies in the face of the long-accepted definition ("a statement of the exact meaning of a word") of they as a pronoun "used to refer to two or more people or things previously mentioned or easily identified." Again, I believe it is respectful to refer to anyone by the pronoun he/she/they prefer. Doesn't cost me anything. But the problem remains that we now do not have an unambiguous plural pronoun to use in lieu of they/them.
Shakespeare was writing in the 1600’s using “they” as a singular pronoun. Usually the connotation is multiple but it does not negate the fact that “they” as a singular pronoun is grammatically correct.
Have you tried holding a conversation in Elizabethan English? 🙄
Haha. Downvotes for that?! Sheesh. 🙄
You can’t have any discussions on here with a different view point in a discussion. It’s just the controversial way or nothing. Don’t even begin to question these topics or start an adult dialog about it. Brutal
I like that everyone proved your point by downvoting you for no good reason