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This is the old prescriptive vs. descriptive thing--do
grammarians/linguists enforce the existing rules of language, or do they
describe usage as it evolves?
Bryan Westbrook wrote of losing the pronouns "he" and "she": "If people
stop using them because there is an easier way, then we will lose the
distinction."
It's not that we'll "stop using" he and she--it's just that the generic
singular pronoun is shifting from "he" to "they." I don't see what
distinction we're losing.
I can respect your position--certainly there are aspects of the English
language that are changing over time when I would rather see them preserved
in their traditional form. (For a trivial and random example, I would
rather keep using the Latinate "supervision" instead of the increasingly
common "oversight" because to me, "oversight" still means overLOOKing
something, not overseeing something.)
But in this case I think the evolution toward the singular "they" makes
sense. English needs a gender-neutral singular pronoun, because the
traditional one ("he") is increasingly seen as inappropriate--or, to make a
pragmatic argument, even if you personally think it's appropriate, it's
going to distract some of your readers. (So will "they," admittedly, but
more and more people are accepting it. And a lot of us would rather be
accused of controversial grammar than gender bias.)
You have the right to fight it, but personally, I cast my lot with "they"
because it's simple and straightforward--it doesn't disrupt the flow of the
sentence (like "he/she") and it doesn't confuse people (like alternating
"he" and "she"). I try to recast sentences to avoid the whole issue,
though, just because ANY of the alternatives will bug someone.
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