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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Is anyone Sg or Pl noun ?

If anyone wants to know the answer, let him (or them ?) decide how to find out.

In this case, is anyone Sg or Pl noun ?
  

Top answer

"anyone" is grammatically singular. The problem here is that the *** of "anyone" is (probably) unknown. Then we hit the perennial problem that English has no gender-neutral third-person pronoun.

— Mr Wordy

  • "anyone" is grammatically singular.
  • The problem here is that the *** of "anyone" is (probably) unknown.
  • Then we hit the perennial problem that English has no gender-neutral third-person pronoun.
  • Traditionally "he/him" would be used to cover both sexes, but some people don't like that and use a singular "they/them" instead.
  • This singular use of "they/them" is widespread but not completely accepted by everybody at all levels of English.
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2 Answers
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"anyone" is grammatically singular.

The problem here is that the *** of "anyone" is (probably) unknown. Then we hit the perennial problem that English has no gender-neutral third-person pronoun. Traditionally "he/him" would be used to cover both sexes, but some people don't like that and use a singular "they/them" instead. This singular use of "they/them" is widespread but not completely
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Anonymous let him (or them ?) decide
Either him or them is fine. them is considered singular in this context. However, him is required according to the prescriptive rules of the past 50 years or so.

(Even Jane Austen uses themin this context, so it must be all right.
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