Re: Pronouns (please bear with me)

[John Darrington]

On Thu, Mar 05, 2020 at 07:59:13AM -0800, Per Bothner wrote:

On 3/5/20 2:34 AM, John Darrington wrote:
     > Singular they is extremely confusing, and just wrong.   When I see it I
     > think who are these people that we're talking about.
     
     It's only been used since before Shakespeare.  It is less confusing
     than the alternatives.  Time to get used to it.

Much of Shakespeare is also confusing (at least to me and I'm a native
English speaker).   Many constructs in language have been in use for
a long time (eg double negatives) but that doesn't mean they are correct
or indeed useful.

     > There is a perfectly good gender neutral pronoun in the English
     > language, viz: "one".   If that's not appropriate for any reason, then
     > either choose "he" or "she" or if you want to be politically correct,
     > write "he or she".
     
     As you say, "one" is not always appropriate. For example:
     
        When you arrive, introduce yourself to the receptionist at the front 
desk.
        They will explain where to go.
     
     "One" should not be used in this context.


In this instance I would have used a relative clause.  Thus a relative pronoun
can be used:

       "When you arrive, introduce yourself to the receptionist at the front 
desk,
        who will explain where to go."

When people use singular they, even when I know what they (plural) mean, I find
that I have to stop and think - and that distracts from the flow of the 
text/dialogue.
It hinders useful communication.

Singular they has been denounced by many in the English speaking world for 
various reasons.
Here is just one example:

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/01/they_is_destroying_the_english_language.html

J'