American Grammar Checkup: Reviewing Personal Pronouns

I wrote a short post the other day, mentioning a few common issues I see surrounding word usage, and one reader (Judy Resnick) wrote about the misuse of their for a singular subject, opting to use he or she, him and her, or hers or his in those situations.

I also have trouble using they, their, or them when referring to a singular subject; it goes against everything I learned and still largely believe when I’m writing or speaking.

But there are a couple of ways around that issue that can help, either rewriting the sentence or using our common sense to realize what we know to be true.

Rewrite a sentence

We no longer live in a world where a specific job title means a male or a female will automatically be in that role; doctors are no longer always male and nurses are no longer always female. In order to describe the actions someone will perform, though, it’s often necessary to use pronouns. But even when we don’t know the gender of the person, using they, their, or them with a singular subject is still bad grammar (although that’s slowly changing). Using only the masculine or feminine pronoun leaves the other gender out of the equation, and using some version of he or she calls attention to itself and can create awkward writing, especially if used frequently.