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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Her or his?
I'm reading a book and it's written:
"Let's analyze the historical returns earned by a fund manager. If her 5-year average return is 10% and she earns 15% this year (...)."
Why does the author use feminine - her and she?
Thanks and my name is Pedro.
"Let's analyze the historical returns earned by a fund manager. If her 5-year average return is 10% and she earns 15% this year (...)."
Why does the author use feminine - her and she?
Thanks and my name is Pedro.
Top answer
The fund manager isn't mentioned by name and indeed is just a generic example of fund manager. Traditionally, English uses the masculine for such an indeterminate person. Some authors feel that this shows a bias against women.
- The fund manager isn't mentioned by name and indeed is just a generic example of fund manager.
- Traditionally, English uses the masculine for such an indeterminate person.
- Some authors feel that this shows a bias against women.
- After all, women are fund managers, too, and to automatically use the masculine is to overlook that fact.
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2 Answers
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The fund manager isn't mentioned by name and indeed is just a generic example of fund manager. Traditionally, English uses the masculine for such an indeterminate person. Some authors feel that this shows a bias against women. After all, women are fund managers, too, and to automatically use the masculine is to overlook that fact.
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Anonymous"Let's analyze the historical returns earned by a fund manager. If her 5-year average return is 10% and she earns 15% this year (...)."The person who managed the fund with those historical returns is a woman. But the second sentence is very strange. If the author is analyzing historical returns, they should be in the past, that is, history. An
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