His or their when gender unknown?

[nq:1]Sentence in question: "You can all but hear the engineer knocking their coffee cup over fumbling for the fader." Referring ... in question is unseen and gender unknown. Someone has insisted that it's supposed to be "his" not "their". Thoughts? Citations?[/nq]
Why not just "knocking a coffee cup over"? It doesn't make any difference if the coffee cup is the one that the engineer uses.

[nq:2]Sentence in question: "You can all but hear the engineer ... that it's supposed to be "his" not "their". Thoughts? Citations?[/nq]
[nq:1]Why not just "knocking a coffee cup over"? It doesn't make any difference if the coffee cup is the one that the engineer uses.[/nq]
For that example, it's fine; not a universal solution, though.

Cheers, Harvey
Canadian and British Engli

[nq:1]Sentence in question: "You can all but hear the engineer knocking their coffee cup over fumbling for the fader." Referring ... on a tv show was evident due to a technical mistake. The engineer in question is unseen and gender unknown.[/nq]
No, his '***' is unknown. The word 'gender' does not refer to persons or animals, but to words only.
[nq:1]Someone has insisted that it's supposed

[nq:1]Sentence in question: "You can all but hear the engineer knocking their coffee cup over fumbling for the fader." Referring ... on a tv show was evident due to a technical mistake. The engineer in question is unseen and gender unknown.[/nq]
No, his '***' is unknown. The word 'gender' does not refer to persons or animals, but to words only.
[nq:1]Someone has insisted that it's supposed

[nq:1] The word 'gender' does not refer to persons or animals, but to words only.[/nq]
Bzzzt. Wrongity-wrong. Your knowledge of our language seems to be deficient.

Among the definitions for "gender" in the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition:
2. Sexual identity, especially in relation to society or culture.3a. The condition of being female or male; ***.
b. Females or mal

[nq:2] The word 'gender' does not refer to persons or animals, but to words only.[/nq]
[nq:1]Bzzzt. Wrongity-wrong. Your knowledge of our language seems to be deficient. Among the definitions for "gender" in the American Heritage ... society or culture. 3a. The condition of being female or male; ***. b. Females or males, considered as a group.[/nq]
Dictionaries list all the meanings used b

[nq:1]Sentence in question: "You can all but hear the engineer knocking their coffee cup over fumbling for the fader." Referring ... The engineer in question is unseen and gender unknown. Someone has insisted that it's supposed to be "his" not "their".[/nq]
"his", "her" and "their" are all correct, but "his" or "her" is preferable in your example because it's an image, and whoever imagined it

Uzytkownik "UC" (Email Removed) napisal w wiadomosci
[nq:1]No, his '***' is unknown. The word 'gender' does not refer to persons or animals, but to words only.[/nq]
I hope this little dialogue will help explain
why it is sometimes preferable to speak
of a person's gender rather than their ***:
(phone rings at reception desk)
- Hello, this is the Park hotel, can I help you?

[nq:1] Dictionaries list all the meanings used by people, even when they are hopelessly confused. Does it not make more sense to use words to clarify, rather than confuse?[/nq]
If you're using words in a different meaning from the one used by the people who speak the language, you're going to confuse them. At first. After that they'll start walking away from you rather briskly, and then you'll

[nq:1]Sentence in question: "You can all but hear the engineer knocking their coffee cup over fumbling for the fader." Referring ... in question is unseen and gender unknown. Someone has insisted that it's supposed to be "his" not "their". Thoughts? Citations?[/nq]
It's too ambiguous and terribly awkward to use "their" in this sentence, IMHO. You could change it to "a coffee cup" and avoid the