sibling

I would think his parents have 4 children.

New2grammarIf a person says he has 3 siblings, how many kids do the parents have?Thanks

As Pucca said, there are 4 kids. It appears more like a maths question.

If a person has two siblings and only one of them has a brother, is he a girl?

CJ

That is a riddle, isn't it?

Okay, I have to say that it's 02.27 here, so, if I say something weird, you might know why it is!

If a person has two siblings, it means that there are three of them. If one of them has a brother, means that the other one might be a girl and, you yourself are also a girl since there is only one brother..

If a person has two siblings and only one of them has a brother, is he a girl?

Po

Exactly my point! (Or one of them!) If we use 'he' as a non-gendered pronoun (referring to 'that person' in this case), we can make grammatically correct sentences that strike us as somewhat strange.

The answer (perfectly correct grammatically, of course) is "Yes, he (i.e., that person) is a girl (or more accurately, a female)".

CJ

Hmm. I've become perfectly happy using "they" for a singular, don't-know-the-*** person. I'm okay with "Happy is he who keeps a fully stocked refrigerator" with the use of "he" for a generic person.

But how do you feel about using "he" when the actual topic of the conversation is that person's gender? I think you need to use the longer, but not inaccurate "that person."