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Moon7296 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Singular or plural?
I don't know if I can put this in a clear manner.
I'll put an example sentence for my question.
Many students want a teacher or tutor to do their study easily or more effectively with a their helpof him/her.
My native tutor corrected my sentence like that.
I put 'him/her' because I thought 'a teacher or tutor' is singular; because of "or". Yet, if I put like a teacher and tutor, I would put their help.
Is 'or' and 'and' thought to be plural in that sentence?
I'll put an example sentence for my question.
Many students want a teacher or tutor to do their study easily or more effectively with a their help
My native tutor corrected my sentence like that.
I put 'him/her' because I thought 'a teacher or tutor' is singular; because of "or". Yet, if I put like a teacher and tutor, I would put their help.
Is 'or' and 'and' thought to be plural in that sentence?
Top answer
"Their" is suggested not as plural, but as an alternative to saying "his or her" when the gender is unknown. There are lots and lots of discussions on this forum about the use of "their" as a singular gender-neutral pronoun. (The problem is that English doesn't have a pronoun for "he or she," and people have been using "they" in this way since the 13th or 14th century.
- "Their" is suggested not as plural, but as an alternative to saying "his or her" when the gender is unknown.
- There are lots and lots of discussions on this forum about the use of "their" as a singular gender-neutral pronoun.
- (The problem is that English doesn't have a pronoun for "he or she," and people have been using "they" in this way since the 13th or 14th century.
- )
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3 Answers
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"Their" is suggested not as plural, but as an alternative to saying "his or her" when the gender is unknown. There are lots and lots of discussions on this forum about the use of "their" as a singular gender-neutral pronoun. (The problem is that English doesn't have a pronoun for "he or she," and people have been using "they" in this way since the 13th or 14th century. "They" continues to tak
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I'm so grateful that you made the answer I really wanted to get!!!!!! even though my question did not include to get an answer like yours ! , I was very surprised that you saw through my question in depth! / I wanted to ask every detail about they and their but I found it hard to put in words.
Anyway, by your answer, my high curiosity has flown away! / Thanks a heap!
Anyway, by your answer, my high curiosity has flown away! / Thanks a heap!
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I'm glad I was able to answer your real question!! If you want to read more about it, there are lots of threads on the subject. One thing that reassured me that it's "legitimate" to use "they" as a gender-neutral singular was realizing that English used to have separate singular and plural forms for "you" (the singular was "thee/thou") and that eventually the plural form "you" became accepted
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