by Jennie Ruby
Our language has one or two little loopholes where there is no appropriate word, and we end up making do. One example is the singular generic pronoun. There isn't one. If I am speaking of everybody in general, but then need to refer to everybody later in the sentence, I am stuck with a choice of "his or her" or "their," like this:
- Everybody is invited to read his or her/their own poetry at the gathering.
- Anyone who wants his or her/their palm read should stop by the séance tent.
In formal writing, it is considered wrong to use their, because everybody and anyone are considered grammatically singular. It is considered wrong to use just he or just she, because either one leaves half the population out. So what can you do if you don't like using the clumsy his or her phrase every time? One trick is to use a or the, or completely delete the possessive, like this:
- Everybody is invited to read a poem at the gathering.
- Everybody is invited to read poetry at the gathering.
Another trick is to reword the sentence, like this:
- Anyone who wants palm reading should stop by the séance tent.
Another alternative is to eliminate everybody and anyone and use plural words instead, so that their will work:
- All attendees of the gathering are invited to read their poetry.
- Individuals who want their palm read are invited to stop by the séance tent.
Notice that even though the word individuals is plural, the word palm is singular, because each person would only have one palm read.
In sum, you don't have to feel trapped by the lack of that singular generic pronoun.
About the Author:
Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Essentials of Access 2000" and "Editing with MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.Want help with a grammar issue? Email us your troubles and we'll turn Jennie loose!