One of the difficulties of formal writing in English is how to delineate a gender-neutral, third-person singular when making generic statements. In the phrase, “It is particularly important for the researcher to keep ____ results from becoming overly biased,” where the blank needs a pronoun showing possession, the writer has a number of options, none of which are ideal.
The first option, to use a generic “his,” has enjoyed popularity in the past few centuries, but is falling out of favor as it is increasingly viewed as inaccurate and potentially sexist. Another option is to use the awkward phrase “his or her.” Repeated use, however, clutters a written passage and is often seen as clunky and confusing. Similarly, alternating between “his” and “her” within a passage to keep neutrality can be confusing, as the reader must determine if the author is referring to the same subject, or multiple ones.
There have been numerous attempts to solve this problem by the means of a new pronoun which has been invented and is gender-neutral. Options such as s/he, (s)he, and xe (pronounced zee) have been presented, but speakers of English and other languages who have attempted to add a new pronoun are surprisingly resistant to the idea. Even the use of the word “one,” as in “One should keep one’s thoughts to oneself,” is perceived as overly formal, and is generally avoided.
Rather than coming up with a new pronoun that is destined to flounder and fail, however, English speakers are turning more and more to the use of “they” as both a singular and a plural, non-gender-specific pronoun. This usage even appears in the New York Times and the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which quotes well-known authors such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, and George Bernard Shaw as using the singular “they.”
What are your thoughts on using “they” as a gender-neutral pronoun? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
