That's mostly true. But that's the neuter gender, which in English we apply
mostly to inanimate objects.
Not exclusively, though. Pet owners usually say "he" or "she" of their
mammals, but we usually say "it" of an animal whose sex we don't know or
don't care about ("it bit me!"). Some inanimate objects take "he" or "she".
And until recently human children were properly "it", grammatically
speaking, though nowadays that's become unpopular.
---
Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313
/* The cities are for money but the high-up hills are purely for the soul.
-from _Galloway_ by Louis L'Amour */
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of
Seymour J Metz
Sent: Thursday, June 9, 2022 16:50
Neuter singular pronouns for living beings. "They" and "them" are nominally
plural in contemporary English, while "it" only applies to inanimate
objects.
________________________________________
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [[email protected]] on behalf of
Bob Bridges [[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, June 9, 2022 3:54 PM
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?
-----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.
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