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No, it's probably at the top of my list of pet peeves, too. If using he or his when gender is unknown bothers a writer so much, he* should rewrite it in a way that avoids the problem altogether. They (or their) is plural, not singular. If you want to use they (or their), make the noun it refers to plural.
Each student must do his own work.
All students must do their own work.
If you want gender equality, use his half the time and her the other half.
And for goodness sake, when the gender is always one or the other by default, use the appropriate pronoun. If it refers to a NFL football player, use his. If it refers to a pregnant human, use hers.
*We all know some writers are male and some are female and that he in this sentence means he or she. It is not necessary to write it out.
This is one of my major pet peeves too, but more now because I am seeing "they" used in the transgender community or agender/nonbinary identified people. I have exceptional empathy for the community, but "they" is now and will always be plural. You are a single person and I will not call you "they."
Eventually the English language will have to develop a non gender specific pronoun.
This is one of my major pet peeves too, but more now because I am seeing "they" used in the transgender community or agender/nonbinary identified people. I have exceptional empathy for the community, but "they" is now and will always be plural. You are a single person and I will not call you "they."
Eventually the English language will have to develop a non gender specific pronoun.
Attempts to do so have not been successful. I am female. I have absolutely no problem with using he whether he may be male, female, or hermaphrodite.
These are all comments from the same news story about a country music festival.
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Maybe it's an english teacher out for summer break? 
