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Styler1 Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

He or she, or they?

I'm still confused about which pronoun can refer to these: one, someone, anyone, and everyone. 'He or she' seems to be grammatically correct, but I've seen 'they' used in formal writing. Also, 'he or she' sounds awkward when you have to use it a few times in one sentence. Are there clear rules on these?
  

Top answer

No clear rules, but the guidelines you state are correct. For very formal writing, use 'he or she' unless you have to use it more than twice or thrice. g.

— Mister Micawber

  • No clear rules, but the guidelines you state are correct.
  • For very formal writing, use 'he or she' unless you have to use it more than twice or thrice.
  • g.
  • use 'people' instead of 'a person').
  • 'They' is fine for informal use and is gaining ground in formal use, but is still widely unaccepted by writing teachers.
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2 Answers
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No clear rules, but the guidelines you state are correct. For very formal writing, use 'he or she' unless you have to use it more than twice or thrice. More than that is awkward, and it would be wiser to recast the referent nouns in the plural instead (e.g. use 'people' instead of 'a person').

'They' is fine for informal use and is gaining ground in formal use, but is still widely unac
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Hi

English offers the possibility to work around the problem of having to use awkward constructions such as 'he or she' or 'his and hers'.

For example, instead of saying that Someone has left his or her car on the sidewalk, you could say:

Someone has left their car on the sidewalk.

It certainly is very convenient for authors who wan
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