Re: use of he/she/they

["Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM>]

*Which* account representative? The sentence doesn't specify, unless
account representatives are assigned by individual end user. Which is
unusual enough that the fact should be explicitly stated. Who is
supposed to read the sentence, and what is that constituency supposed to
learn from it?

I guess it's theoretically possible that the generic singular could be
necessary in a technical document, but in the real world I haven't run
into any examples.

Mike Huber
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com

>-----Original Message-----
>From:  Tamminga, Ernie [SMTP:et -at- DSC -dot- COM]
>
>I sent the following off-line to Barclay, but since there's so many
>instant responses here in the group, I'm re-posting publicly, so that my
>two pennies don't fail to fall into the jar...
>==================================
>
>[In speaking about declaring a "generic singular"], I was being
>partially facetious. But seriously, folks...
>
>In a sentence like
>
>     "The end-user can obtain help by calling their account
>representative"...
>
>

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