We hear it all the time (a teacher to his class): “Everyone should take their gloves with them because it is cold.”
The rule is simple and easy to understand; application, however is another kettle of fish! Every pronoun makes reference to an express or implied noun, and the two must agree numerically; both should be either singular or plural. They should not be mixed as in the illustration; i.e., “everyone” (noun) is singular whereas “their” and “them” (pronouns which refer to “everyone”) are plural. The reason most of us get ourselves into this fix is that in English there really is not a suitable singular pronoun for the circumstance.
It is simple if all of the people in the group being addressed are of one sex; merely substitute “his”/”her” for “their” and “him”/”her” for “them”. But if the genders are mixed, most of us are uncomfortable with a pronoun which connotes only one gender; a perfectly proper, though cumbersome, alternative is to substitute the phrases “his or her” for “their” and “him or her” for “them” (“Everyone should take his or her gloves with him or her”.)
Probably the better way is to use a different sentence structure by making the subject noun plural: “All students should take their gloves with them. . . ” works well. It is not awkward, stilted, or sexist, but it does take a little thought to use the plural noun before speaking; in the ordinary course of speech, we tend to roar along and find ourselves trapped (by starting with a single noun). Our purpose is to make you conscious of the issue; if you take pains to construct properly each time, it may slow your delivery for awhile, but ultimately it will become second nature. Incidentally, spoken miscues are one thing, but there can be little excuse for written slip-ups.
A curious attempt at a solution that never really made it off the ground was the invention of new, gender-neutral pronouns: “ne” for “he” or “she” and “ner” for “his”, “him”, or “her”. All very sensible perhaps, but like the much more elaborate effort in the beginning of this Century to invent a language (Esperanto, which was a blend of the major Western languages, with simple, exceptionless rules of grammar), it was predestined to receive a cold reception. People were not about to jettison eons of traditions (to say nothing of the effort involved!).
Finally, we revel in your comments. Marie Bothe, who is a principal of Wetherill Associates, is at wits’ end with the use of “most importantly”. She believes that dropping the final “ly” may actually enhance the phrase’s impact. She also noted wryly that in our last issue we used “tow the line” (tough assignment!) when “toe the line” was intended. Anyone else find that?
The rule is simple and easy to understand; application, however is another kettle of fish! Every pronoun makes reference to an express or implied noun, and the two must agree numerically; both should be either singular or plural. They should not be mixed as in the illustration; i.e., “everyone” (noun) is singular whereas “their” and “them” (pronouns which refer to “everyone”) are plural. The reason most of us get ourselves into this fix is that in English there really is not a suitable singular pronoun for the circumstance.
It is simple if all of the people in the group being addressed are of one sex; merely substitute “his”/”her” for “their” and “him”/”her” for “them”. But if the genders are mixed, most of us are uncomfortable with a pronoun which connotes only one gender; a perfectly proper, though cumbersome, alternative is to substitute the phrases “his or her” for “their” and “him or her” for “them” (“Everyone should take his or her gloves with him or her”.)
Probably the better way is to use a different sentence structure by making the subject noun plural: “All students should take their gloves with them. . . ” works well. It is not awkward, stilted, or sexist, but it does take a little thought to use the plural noun before speaking; in the ordinary course of speech, we tend to roar along and find ourselves trapped (by starting with a single noun). Our purpose is to make you conscious of the issue; if you take pains to construct properly each time, it may slow your delivery for awhile, but ultimately it will become second nature. Incidentally, spoken miscues are one thing, but there can be little excuse for written slip-ups.
A curious attempt at a solution that never really made it off the ground was the invention of new, gender-neutral pronouns: “ne” for “he” or “she” and “ner” for “his”, “him”, or “her”. All very sensible perhaps, but like the much more elaborate effort in the beginning of this Century to invent a language (Esperanto, which was a blend of the major Western languages, with simple, exceptionless rules of grammar), it was predestined to receive a cold reception. People were not about to jettison eons of traditions (to say nothing of the effort involved!).
Finally, we revel in your comments. Marie Bothe, who is a principal of Wetherill Associates, is at wits’ end with the use of “most importantly”. She believes that dropping the final “ly” may actually enhance the phrase’s impact. She also noted wryly that in our last issue we used “tow the line” (tough assignment!) when “toe the line” was intended. Anyone else find that?
– Ken Butera