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Where possible I construct the sentence so that the gender of the
'person' never comes into consideration. No need to worry about 'he',
'she' and 'they' (and equivalent derivatives). Just like this email
itself. If forced to the wall I go for what seems best - generally
'they', which always makes most sense if you cast the actors in the
plural - "Users find their work easier if they have been given good
instruction texts by their managers." or my favourite - the directed
personal - "You will find your work easier if you have been ..."
And just for fun:
Q: Plural of "you" as in "You come here"?
A: "Yous" as in "Yous come here"
Quite unambiguous though perhaps not as explicitly all-embracing as
y'all - but doesn't it have the advantage of adding the standard 's'
for plural?
What about "yousall" - belt AND braces!
P
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Peter Collins, VIVID Management Pty Ltd,
26 Bradleys Head Road, MOSMAN 2088, Australia
+61 2 9968 3308, fax +61 2 9968 3026, mobile +61 (0)18 419 571
Management Consultants and Technical Writers
email: peter -dot- collins -at- bigfoot -dot- com ICQ#: 10981283
web pages: http://www.angelfire.com/pe/pcollins/
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