Pronouns

Question

I have a strange question. Could this sentence be correct?
"How can one be taken seriously if he can't even spell his screen name correctly?"

Some guy another forum (who thinks he's some sort of grammar expert, said the following:

"one" does not equal "he"

one is the indefinite pronoun for a human agent

he is the pronoun we use when there is a particular person in question and this person is in fact a male.

you cannot use these two pronouns so signify the same person...

corrections:
How can one be taken seriously if one can't even spell one's screen name correctly?
or
How can he be taken seriously if he can't even spell his screen name correctly?

I need some good explanations here..please!

Thanks

Philip · Accepted Answer

Welcom to the forums, Evan! (We abbreviate a lot, here.).

Your first post is an interesting one, and you should be aware that it will most likely not be answered conclusively. There are many opinions about our (English speakers') lack of a thrid-person gender-free pronoun or adjective.

My opinion: both of your corrections are good. I agree that two pronouns (one, he) should not be used together in the same sentence to refer to the same person.

Yankee · Answer

Hi evanescence, and welcome to the site.

Ask your friend what "he" means in this sentence:

He who laughs last, laughs best.

In view of the fact that "one" was used in the beginning of the sentence, I suppose the use of "one" and "one's" would create a better balance in the second half of the sentence.

On the other hand, using "one" in the beginning and then "he" and "his" in the second half of the sentence might be looked at as something the author did for stylistic effect -- i.e. start off with a very generally stated question (in essence, about "anyone") and then finish with words that more strongly suggest a particular male person.

Nowadays, politically correct language discourages the use of he/him/his to refer to a person of unspecified gender since the person might end up being female. However, this sort of use of masculine pronouns is a traditional usage.

Both "one" and "he" can be used as gender-neutral pronouns, as can the word "you", for example. The use of "one" often seems more formal.

Having said all that, even if "one" had been used throughout the sentence, I suspect it would have still been abundantly clear to all involved exactly who "one" referred to.

That's my two cents.

EDIT:
PS
To me, your second sentence refers to a particular male -- i.e. the usage is gender-specific, not gender-neutral:
How can he be taken seriously if he can't even spell his screen name correctly?

Evanescence · Answer

Thanks so much for the responses. This is a great site. I'm actually a member of a debate forum and the sentence I needed corrected was mine. I was referring to another poster who misspelled his own screen name. Then, he said that in correcting his spelling, I made my own mistakes. However, I always thought that 'he' could be used to refer to someone in general just as 'one' is. English can be very confusing! lol

Kooyeen · Answer

"One" and "he" can be used as genderless pronouns, and they can be mixed together in the same sentence too. I personally hate "one" because it sounds way too formal to me... at least in American English. Is it just my impression? How likely is someone to use "one" in speech? Anyway, I usually just don't use "one" and I say or write "a person" or "someone" instead.
As for genderless "he", I personally avoid it as well, but it's not a matter of being politically correct. It's just that it's odd, because "he" and "him" are automatically connected to "a guy" or "a man" by my brain, and perhaps that happens to native speakers too. Just consider this example:

Go out on the street, approach the first person you see, and kiss him. <--- No thanks. Not for me. Amy might have no problems with this, though.
Go out on the street, approach the first person you see, and kiss them.<--- This is better. This version allows my brain to think I can skip the guys and just approach the ladies.

LOL

So it's often just odd. However, it's still used that way, and still commonly found in formal writing.
That's my opinion on genderless pronouns.

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