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James do Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary
Possessive determiner : he - his ; she - her ; they - their ; but ? - a person
Hi,
I know he is used to refer to a man
or a person, whose sex is not known.
And
his is the possessive form of he.
I can write :
Tom mends his car. (I knew Tom is male)
But when I see a person mending the car from a distance, can I write :
A person mend his car.
I mean, can we use his as the possessive determiner of a person? If not, what is the correct one?
Thank you very much.
I know he is used to refer to a man
or a person, whose sex is not known.
And
his is the possessive form of he.
I can write :
Tom mends his car. (I knew Tom is male)
But when I see a person mending the car from a distance, can I write :
A person mend his car.
I mean, can we use his as the possessive determiner of a person? If not, what is the correct one?
Thank you very much.
Top answer
Hello James, The advice to use "he" to mean either a man or a woman is outdated. Many people would find it sexist and unacceptable. It's okay to use "they" or "their" as a 3rd-person singular reference.
- Hello James, The advice to use "he" to mean either a man or a woman is outdated.
- Many people would find it sexist and unacceptable.
- It's okay to use "they" or "their" as a 3rd-person singular reference.
- Tom is fixing his car.
- A person is fixing their car.
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2 Answers
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Hello James,
The advice to use "he" to mean either a man or a woman is outdated. Many people would find it sexist and unacceptable. It's okay to use "they" or "their" as a 3rd-person singular reference.
Tom is fixing his car.
A person is fixing their car.
Note I changed two things:
1) We use the word "mend" for clothing (or relationships) but not for large mech
The advice to use "he" to mean either a man or a woman is outdated. Many people would find it sexist and unacceptable. It's okay to use "they" or "their" as a 3rd-person singular reference.
Tom is fixing his car.
A person is fixing their car.
Note I changed two things:
1) We use the word "mend" for clothing (or relationships) but not for large mech
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Grammar GeekHello James,
The advice to use "he" to mean either a man or a woman is outdated. Many people would find it sexist and unacceptable. It's okay to use "they" or "their" as a 3rd-person singular reference.
Tom is fixing his car.
A person is fixing their car.
Note I changed two things:
1) We use the word "mend" for cl
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