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Sesquipedalian101 Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Everyone... when he/they saw

Would I seem very pedantic or old-fashioned if I insist on using the pronoun "he" in place of "they"?

Everyone broke up when they saw what Sally was wearing.

Thank you very much for your help.
  

Top answer

Selvakumar Would I seem very pedantic or old-fashioned if I insist on using the pronoun "he" in place of "they"? Yes, or even more so. It no longer even seems reasonable: 'everyone' is obviously more than one person.

— Mister Micawber

  • Selvakumar Would I seem very pedantic or old-fashioned if I insist on using the pronoun "he" in place of "they"?
  • Yes, or even more so.
  • It no longer even seems reasonable: 'everyone' is obviously more than one person.
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4 Answers
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SelvakumarWould I seem very pedantic or old-fashioned if I insist on using the pronoun "he" in place of "they"?
Yes, or even more so. It no longer even seems reasonable: 'everyone' is obviously more than one person.
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Thank you, Mister Micawber. I have to agree with your reason, although only sadly, sir.

When I was but a teenager, I remember receiving my composition that had been marked by my English teacher, who was a native speaker. Of the many mistakes that he scored out, one of them not least confused me: my original sentence was,

"Everyone must bring their
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SelvakumarMy teacher had changed "their" to "his", and "books" to "book".
That is one solution if you wish to avoid the conundrum, but 'their' is now a generally accepted non-gender singular pronoun. Grammar acceptance changes.
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Thank you very much, Mister Micawber. You are very patient and helpful. Appreciate it.
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