Fun with Pronouns

 A person does not have to go far on TV or the internet, even among sites of large news companies, to find enough bad diction, awkward phrasing, lousy grammar, and poor choices of words to earn a failing grade from a moderately strict mid-century sophomore English teacher. Stephen Cox at Liberty has written several amusing pieces full of examples. Historians have written that people such as Petrarch compared the inferior Latin writing of their day harshly to the fine Latin of writers from the time of Virgil and Cicero. One can see something similar by reading not only the works of good or great authors but also compositions such as letters and military reports written by ordinary educated people in the 19^th Century and comparing them to what passes for English prose in lots of places these days. As Mr. Ed - who handled the language better than many present day journalists – might have said, it’s pathetic, Wilbur.

Then there are the pronouns. The distinction between singular and plural is important, and the English language uses different pronouns to denote it. Until recently that was a noncontroversial and well understood notion not only among grammarians but also among literate people in general. It still should be. If people want gender neutral singular pronouns, they do not have to hijack “they” and “them”. English has a perfectly good one in “it”. For example, while there really is nothing wrong with saying “a person should be careful when he pays taxes” when one means a person of either sex, it can be avoided by one who wants to do so by using “he or she” or following the the convention of male authors using “he” and female authors using “she” or alternating the two from time to time. Those enthusiasts comfortable only with full neutrality who find such solutions unsatisfactory can say “a person should be careful when it pays taxes”. That sounds funny, but it is less bad than “a person should be careful when they pay taxes”. There is no need to be semi-literate to be politically correct.

Using “it” could help with other things as well. It does the job with individuals who wish to avoid “he” or “she” because they call themselves “gender fluid” or claim to be of some invented non-biological gender or genders, making such things as “xe” and “xir” and so on unnecessary. Relying on “it” is just a good way to go all around for those seeking neutrality.

It ain’t hard.