OK, now that National Punctuation Day is behind us, I would like to address a grammar issue of concern to me. Now I admit that I am a feminist, always mighty proud to say it. Having lived through the rise of women in the workplace, I appreciate efforts to raise the male consciousness. However, the drive to say "his or hers" or "he or she" has created a grammatical conundrum (don't you just love that word?). Most people find using the dual pronoun cumbersome, so they shorten it to "theirs" or "them." But this results in a monstrous grammatical error.
Let me explain. "Does everyone have his or her lunch?" is correct. But "Does everyone have THEIR lunch?" is WRONG. "Everyone" is a singular pronoun that takes a singular verb and a singular possessive pronoun. So the correct form, if you want to avoid "his or her," is "its."
If "its" sounds too weird, then I suggest that we simply revert to "his" and assume that females are included (especially considering, and forgive this sexist statement, the girls will all have their lunches anyway and it's really the boys we need to remind). After all, I think our collective sensitivities can handle using one pronoun to include both genders if it means that we can at least preserve English grammar. Right?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.jpg)
Thanks for sharing, Moira. Proper grammar is as important as proper spelling in our work and we can always use a refresher course with "dos" and "don'ts".
ReplyDeleteFor the next post, please explain to me the reason why one would use an em-dash as opposed to a comma or an en-dash.
Does everyone have a lunch? I might want to eat your lunch, instead of mine. I like yummy salad.
ReplyDeleteHi Moira - As my TTB Chief Counsel supervisor is well aware, I often commit this error myself. Thanks for the explanation. Alfie's friend, Trash Can Harry.
ReplyDeleteThe TTB Chief Counsel only knows about this because he is married to me!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, linguists note that analysis of a language's grammar is meant to describe rather than prescribe. Seeking precision, logic, or even consistency in language will inevitably lead to great dissapointment. Second of all, just as some languages do just fine without articles and others are fully functional without plural nouns, there is no real need to have gender-based pronouns (although I know of no language that does not). The most important rule is that a general consensus is reached within the community of a language's users. At this juncture, there is no such consensus.
ReplyDeleteSo, if these are the choices:
_his own lunch (too sexist)
_his or her own lunch (too clumsy)
_their own lunch (too illogical)
I will vote for illogical. If "you" can be singular or plural / objective case or subjective case, then we can handle "their" as a singular non-gender-specific pronoun. All we have to do is hold hands, jump together, and agree that this is how we are handling this.
re: previous post--
ReplyDeleteStrike "dissapointment" and replace with "disappointment."
MadRiver - you make an excellent argument! While I personally would prefer that we say "its," as it is an already existing non-gender-specific singular possessive pronoun, I think NO ONE will make that its choice.
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion! I'm with MadRiver -- let the language evolve, allowing "their" to morph into a singular pronoun when necessary. Now here's a "whole 'nother" gender issue: repeating the questions of nebulously gendered elementary students when I do author visits. I always try to repeat the question for the assemblage. Trouble is, I'm sometimes fooled by short-haired girls or long-haired boys... ESPECIALLY long-haired boys! They're so embarrassed when I say, "She asked..." I have now taught myself to say "The question was..." even if I'm CERTAIN of the inquisitor's gender. That way, it remains an unbreakable habit.
ReplyDeleteKim Norman
ps: Let me know how your visit goes tomorrow!