he/she -> they

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Team MavEtJu

he/she -> they
December 22, 2017 01:03PM

Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 10

In your example log, you have the following text:

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[Team MavEtJu](https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?u=Team%20MavEtJu) has used [Project-GC](https://project-gc.com/Challenges/GC7G8DC/30869 "Project-GC Challenge Checker") to see if he/she qualified for this challenge and he/she did.

That "he/she" should be replaced with "they". As described on https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/usage/he-or-she-versus-they:

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You can use the plural pronouns ‘they’, ‘them’, ‘their’ etc., despite the fact that, technically, they are referring back to a singular noun

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It's a thing that non-native English speakers (yes, I'm one of them too) don't know. Please use it to your advantage!

Edwin

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mole125

Re: he/she -> they
December 22, 2017 01:37PM

Moderator
Registered: 7 years ago
Posts: 154

Its a very good point and as a native english reader it does scan better. I've add them as suggestions for the english language translations of the site - though I've no idea what the process is for project-gc to pick up translations and actually use them.

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arisoft

Re: he/she -> they
December 23, 2017 01:18AM

Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 783

According to Wikipedia this is not so obvious. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They

Quote

It can also be used as a gender neutral third person singular pronoun. This idiomatic use avoids formalising the vagueness or unknown fact by not using the formal phrase, "he/she." For example, formally "he or she drove over the body and disappeared," informally "they (singular) drove over the body and disappeared."

The referred article https://www.webcitation.org/68ylntP85?url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=1 is also quite interesting to read. :)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2017 01:20AM by arisoft. (view changes)