Bino  +  577055 Thu, 16 Oct 08 07:58 PM What is the gender of national states, or which pronoun do you use to refer to the word "state". The actual case is the following: Each of the contracting states shall carry xxx own costs associated with the arbitration proceedings What should the xxx be here, "its" or "her" ? Or what about a "singular their" Thanks for your comments  Bino Joined on Thu, Oct 16 2008 France New Member 03 Genders, Nouns, Pronouns, Countries

	Clive  +  577058 Thu, 16 Oct 08 08:31 PM Hi, Welcome to the Forum. What is the gender of national states, or which pronoun do you use to refer to the word "state". The actual case is the following: Each of the contracting states shall carry *** own costs associated with the arbitration proceedings What should the *** be here, "its" or "her" ? Or what about a "singular their" Say 'its', although 'their' is often heard as well. States are occasionally 'personified' in poetic or rhetorical contexts. Best wishes, Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,627 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo Genders, Nouns, Pronouns

	Bino  +  577073 Thu, 16 Oct 08 09:20 PM Thanks Clive, It seems to me that US newspapers often refer to England and France as "her". I would guess that goes for Canada as well. I tend to prefer "its" over "her" too in this case where the reference is back to the impersonal "each of the states", so thanks for the affirmation. I am pleased to hear that you think it is ok to use "their" although the use of "singular they/their" may not be clear-cut in this example. If anybody else is a supporter of "singular they/their", would you use it (always/never/sometimes) when referring to a national state, a town or similar, e.g. "Middletown must buy their own fire engine" Best regards, Bino Bino Regards, Nouns, Pronouns

	Grammar Geek  +  577076 Thu, 16 Oct 08 09:32 PM Hi Bino, Two comments: The more poetic "she" or "her" is used when we know which country is being discussed. In a general discussion about "any and all states" then the neutral "its" is the only one that is appropriate.  The singular "they/their" is used when you don't know the sex of the person who is being talked about. A person will have a sex, even if you don't know what it is, so the gender-neutral "they" can save embarrassment later. A city does not have a gender, so their is no need for a single-gender-neutral pronoun. That said, if you think of the city as a collection of individuals (or even as the members of the town council), then you can use "they" thinking of the people. I tend to write "they" when I refer to a city, and my editor always corrects it back to "its." Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,669 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random! Genders, Nouns, Pronouns