It's to avoid gender trouble. Saying "their" seems less awkward than his/her. Sometimes I write using only feminine pronouns, but that's ridiculous on a forum like this where the majority of folks seem to be male. So I use "they and their", knowing it's incorrect, but not wanting to make everything male specific.
their is no point in believeing that they're is ever going to be harmony between everyone and there way of using grammar P.S. If you read that as if there was nothing wrong with it, your brain has adapted to forum grammar, and you have nothing to worry about
I'm so confused. Are we upset about using their as the possesive for a singular noun / pronoun? Or are we upset abot people saying "I've been their." and "Their doing it wrong."???
Technically, though, "his" is correct if you don't know the sex, not "his or her". That's coming from a PhD in English (not me, but an old teacher), which is why I almost always say "his".
Yes, "his" is correct according to the old rules, but many feminist theorists and linguists have attempted to change this, as it shows a definite male bias in the language. It would be interesting to know what feminist speakers of romance languages have done regarding this problem. It's tiring to read older textbooks etc. that constantly refer to the reader or subject as a male. I've had professors that write using male pronouns, and professors that write using exclusively female pronouns, neither to me really cuts it, I would prefer something gender neutral (like ze, but no one uses that one, plus it's dorky) Language constantly changes and evolves, and should reflect the society that uses it. OK, that reply was way too serious for this thread, but I have given this a lot of thought over the years.
The use of default male pronouns is not "insulting" (certainly not on an individual level), the problem is that it makes the male experience the "norm," and excludes the female experience. When we read "he" we think of a male, so when we read a phrase like "the architect works extensively on his portfolio" we automatically think of the architect as a man.
I know, that's why I assumed the original post was about singular vs. plural. If it's not, I'm very confused. That works, how do you do him/her? or his/her? I like the just plain she route, or to switch the genders back and forth, just to mess everything up. A side note- According to psychology rules you have to say he or she, not just he.
