Retainer Fantasia

[Iryoku]

English technically has no third person gender-neutral pronoun. "They" is not "proper" English, though it is common usage these days. You'd still get points off on the GED test (I was a GED tutor for a while) for using "they," and a high school English teacher would still get out that red pen if you used it on a paper.

I had four paragraphs written contesting your claim that the singular "they" is improper English. The entire post was lost when I clicked preview, and the page didn't load. I have no desire to rewrite the entire thing, so I will just leave you with this instead. The singular "they" has existed since at least the 14th century, and the "rule" prescribing against its use was created in the 19th century. Jane Austen, George Bernard Shaw, and even William Shakespeare used the singular "they" in their works.

Don't blindly follow a rule without first understanding why it exists and where it came from.

[Viridiana]

I had four paragraphs written contesting your claim that the singular "they" is improper English.

I'd actually be totally interested in reading this (or your sources) if you get bored at some point. Partially because I try to take some sort of middle ground in prescriptivism and descriptivism. That, and I'm always amused at having "authoritative" examples for grammar people don't like.

[Nyalia]

I had four paragraphs written contesting your claim that the singular "they" is improper English. The entire post was lost when I clicked preview, and the page didn't load. I have no desire to rewrite the entire thing, so I will just leave you with this instead. The singular "they" has existed since at least the 14th century, and the "rule" prescribing against its use was created in the 19th century. Jane Austen, George Bernard Shaw, and even William Shakespeare used the singular "they" in their works.

Don't blindly follow a rule without first understanding why it exists and where it came from.

Huh, thanks, I did not know that. I just taught the rule because it was a rule that was enforced in US High School.

[Eloah]

The singular "they" has existed since at least the 14th century, and the "rule" prescribing against its use was created in the 19th century. Jane Austen, George Bernard Shaw, and even William Shakespeare used the singular "they" in their works.

Don't blindly follow a rule without first understanding why it exists and where it came from.

He is right "they" and "their" are gender neutral, as well as collectively neutral. English use to be similar to a lot of other European languages in regards to gender specific words, and familiar and formal ones too. But as the language evolved they fell out of fashion. For instance, the word "you" use to be formal, and the word we use to use for the familiar was "thou", which is rarely seen or heard of today but is considered formal by todays standards.

[Cabalabob]

From now on we shall refer to them as shklee or shkler!

[Velox]

From now on we shall refer to them as shklee or shkler!

I hope more people get this reference. Kudos to you!

[Anatha]

Using "he" as a generic "neutral" pronoun has gone out of fashion and been out of fashion, since the 80s.

Back then, most would just accept people using "he", but now....? Good luck with that.