What Is a Generic Pronoun?
Updated January 12, 2018 from
thoughtco.com
In English grammar, a generic pronoun is
a personal pronoun (such as one or they)
that can refer to both masculine and feminine entities. Also called a common-gender
pronoun, an epicene pronoun, and a gender-neutral
pronoun.
In recent years, because English
does not have a singular equivalent for they and because the use of he
as a generic pronoun appears to exclude or marginalize women, various
composites and neologisms have been proposed, including s/he,
han, and he/she.
Increasingly, the they-pronoun
group is used in singular constructions (a practice that dates to
the 16th century), though strict prescriptive grammarians fault this practice. The
most common way of avoiding the problem is to use the plural forms of nouns in company with the generic pronouns they,
them, and their.
Examples
and Observations
- One
should never go to sleep with an electric heating pad turned on.
- "[I]f one learns that one will not
be allowed to get away with simply walking away from whatever messes one
creates, one is given a strong negative incentive against making messes
in the first place."
(Henry Shue, "Global Environment and International Inequality." Climate Ethics: Essential Readings, ed. by Stephen Gardiner et al. Oxford University Press, 2010)
- The way a person spends his or her leisure time
tells us what he or she values.
- "If everyone becomes committed to
developing her or his own set of myths and symbols, how is
community possible?"
(Naomi R. Goldenberg, Changing of the Gods. Beacon, 1979)
- "I don't want to live in a country that prohibits
any person, whether he/she has paid the ultimate price for that
country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative
statements about the government."
(American anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan)
- "He (and by 'he' I also mean 'she') sees in
these interlopers rivals for the affection he egoistically craves
from his parents, and which he is unwilling to share with
anyone else."
(La Forest Potter, Strange Loves. Padell, 1933)
- "In Baltimore, . . . yo is a new
gender-neutral third-person personal pronoun. As in Yo was tuckin’ in
his shirt or Yo sucks at magic tricks. If yo sticks
around--and if it spreads--maybe we can put the ever-awkward he or she
to rest forever."
(Jessica Love, "They Get to Me." The American Scholar, Spring 2010)
- "It's imperative to a child's success that they
have strong self-esteem. A parent plays a key role in its development and
must be conscious of choices s/he makes daily to influence a
child's self-esteem."
(Toni Schutta)
- Origin of "He" as a Generic Pronoun
"'He' started to be used as a generic pronoun by grammarians who were trying to change a long-established tradition of using 'they' as a singular pronoun. In 1850 an Act of Parliament gave official sanction to the recently invented concept of the generic 'he.' . . . [T]he new law said, 'words importing the masculine gender shall be deemed and taken to include females.'"
(R. Barker and C. Moorcroft, Grammar First. Nelson Thornes, 2003)
- A Gender-Neutral Fossil
"There is an interesting historical twist to this story. Around 1000 years ago, at the time of so-called Old English, the masculine pronoun was hē and the feminine pronoun was hēo. The form she didn't make an appearance until sometime during the 12th century. It eventually came to replace hēo, and this is why we have this little irregularity now in the modern language--she versus her/hers. The initial 'h' of her and hers is a fossil that preserves the 'h' of the original feminine pronoun hēo. Now, there were some conservative dialects in the UK that (in their spoken versions at least) never felt the effects of she and indeed ended up with only one pronoun form (the collapse of original hē and hēo). Sometimes written as ou (or a), it was probably pronounced something like [uh] (in other words, the schwa . . .). These dialects didn't have the problem of coming up with clumsy alternatives like s/he when the sex of a person was unknown or irrelevant. The form ou was truly a gender-neutral pronoun."
(Kate Burridge, Gift of the Gob: Morsels of English Language History. HarperCollins Australia, 2011)
- The Singular They
"The first results of a large scale project investigating the adoption of feminist language change in spoken language (with a focus on public speech) suggests that 'singular' they is the preferred generic pronoun in public speech: 45 radio interviews (approx. 196000 words and involving 14 interviewers and 199 guests) yielded 422 cases of pronominalisation of generic nouns. Dominating the pronoun stakes by a large margin is 'singular' they which was used 281 times (67%). This was followed by 72 cases in which the generic noun was repeated (17%). There were still 50 cases of the use of masculine generic he (12%). The dual pronoun strategy, i.e. use of he or she only occurred 8 times (1.5%) and the generic use of she only 3 times (0.5%)."
(Anne Pauwels, "Inclusive Language Is Good Business: Gender, Language and Equality in the Workplace." Gendered Speech in Social Context, ed. by Janet Holmes. Victoria University. Press, 2000)
- The Generic "They" in a New Translation of
the Bible
"The 2011 translation of the New International Version Bible, or NIV, does not change pronouns referring to God, who remains 'He' and 'the Father.' But it does aim to avoid using 'he' or 'him' as the default reference to an unspecified person. . . .
"At issue is how to translate pronouns that apply to both genders in the ancient Greek and Hebrew texts but have traditionally been translated using masculine forms in English. . . .
"An example from the translator's notes for Mark 4:25 . . . show how the NIV's translation of these words has evolved over the past quarter-century.
"The widely distributed 1984 version of the NIV quotes Jesus: 'Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.'
"The more recent incarnation of the NIV from 2005, called Today's New International Version, changed that to: 'Those who have will be given more; as for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them.'
"The CBMW [Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood] had complained in 2005 that making the subject of a verse plural to convey that it could refer equally to a man or a woman 'potentially obscured an important aspect of biblical thought--that of the personal relationship between an individual and God.'
"The NIV 2011 seems to have taken that criticism into account and come up with a compromise: 'Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.'
"While the translators' former grammar teachers may not like it, the translators offer a strong justification for their choice of 'they' (instead of the clunky 'he or she') and 'them' (instead of 'him or her') to refer back to the singular 'whoever.'
"They commissioned an extensive study of the way modern English writers and speakers convey gender inclusiveness. According to the translators' notes on the Committee on Bible Translation's website, 'The gender-neutral pronoun "they" ("them"/"their") is by far the most common way that English-language speakers and writers today refer back to singular antecedents such as "whoever," "anyone," "somebody," "a person," "no one," and the like.'"
(Associated Press, "New Bible Draws Critics of Gender-Neutral Language." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 18, 2011)
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===============================================================
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authored the premiere book on Netiquette, “Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive
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Anyone who
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=====================
Good Netiquette
And A Green Internet To All! =====================================================================
Tabula Rosa Systems - Tabula Rosa
Systems (TRS) is dedicated to providing Best of Breed Technology and
Best of Class Professional Services to our Clients. We have a portfolio of products which we
have selected for their capabilities, viability and value. TRS provides
product, design, implementation and support services on all products that we
represent. Additionally, TRS provides expertise in Network Analysis, eBusiness
Application Profiling, ePolicy and eBusiness Troubleshooting.
We can be contacted at:
sales@tabularosa.net
or 609 818 1802.
===============================================================
In addition to
this blog, Netiquette IQ has a
website with great assets which are being added to on a regular basis. I have
authored the premiere book on Netiquette, “Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive
Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". My new book,
“You’re Hired! Super Charge Your Email Skills in 60 Minutes. . . And Get That
Job!” has just been published and will be followed by a trilogy of books on
Netiquette for young people. You can view my profile, reviews of the book and
content excerpts at:
Anyone who
would like to review the book and have it posted on my blog or website, please
contact me paul@netiquetteiq.com.
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