Neuter singular pronouns for living beings. "They" and "them" are nominally plural in contemporary English, while "it" only applies to inanimate objects.
-- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [[email protected]] on behalf of Bob Bridges [[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 9, 2022 3:54 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: ] Re: "A Rexx" (or "A REXX") Wait a moment, Shmuel: English still has the neuter. In fact ~most~ of our nouns are neuter, barring only a few exceptions, unlike the Romance languages which have only masculine and feminine. In English, almost every non-human noun and a handful of human ones are "it". What did you mean to say? --- Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313 /* Jesus summons men to follow him not as a teacher or a pattern of the good life, but as the Christ, the Son of God. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, _The Cost of Discipleship_ */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Seymour J Metz Sent: Thursday, June 9, 2022 11:44 Now, I could make a case that we would be better off had we retained the neuter gender. But most of what you mentioned doesn't represent an obvious loss of clarity, conciseness, expressive power or precision. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
