On 2020-07-02 15:19, Piper Thunstrom wrote:
On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 10:01 AM Paul Moore <p.f.mo...@gmail.com> wrote:
What *is* the correct inclusive way to refer to an unidentified person
in a technical document, without sacrificing clarity by using
convoluted circumlocutions like "he/her/they" or over-use of the
passive voice? My impression is that commonly accepted language rules
and usage are lagging behind, and there's no good answer to this
question yet :-(
Paul
Paul, this is actually a good question to ask. In general, singular
"they" is becoming more popular. It's already used frequently for the
singular indeterminate pronoun:
"Someone wants to talk to you."
"What do they want?"
Those who favor prescriptivism will tell you this is improper usage
(especially when it goes from an unknown someone to a known someone)
but it avoids the strange construction of "he or she" and is more
inclusive of diverse genders and is historically how the word was
used. (For a fun counter example, the word "you" used to be a plural
second person pronoun, but no one today would argue that it makes no
sense to use it for an individual.)
Here's an article on singular 'they':
https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/
TL;DR: It's not a recent usage; it was OK in 1375.
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