By Pronouns, Genders

Hi, I'm not sure why you group a "thing-word" in with all these "people-words." The plural post-reference for a singular term is only used to avoid the awkward gender issue. In English, things don't have genders (except ships) so the problem disappears. (Ships are...

The important plural in your sentences is "those." People often misuse "their" as a singular, and "who" may be either singular or plural.If you wanted to express the same thought in the singular, you might use the singular "whoever" in place of the plural...

See my thoughts above on the plural issue. As for the question of 'he' when the gender is unknown, it is indeed very common. In English, if the gender isn't specifically known, it's generally assumed to be male. There is of course a lot of talk about this being sexist language,...

Hi everyoneI just wondered if anyone could help - I have to write a profile of a chinese learner of English (completely made up). In it I must put any difficulties that the learner has in learning English as an L2. I have got so far:Intonation transfer from L1 may cause them to be perceived as...

Hello Verymaddhatter, and welcome to English Forums. 1. A pronoun's antecedent is the: A. pronoun itself. B. gender of the pronoun. C word that the pronoun refers back to. D. none of the above Answer is B. Sorry - it's C. 2. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in: A....

1. A pronoun's antecedent is the: A. pronoun itself. B. gender of the pronoun. C word that the pronoun refers back to. D. none of the above Answer is B. 2. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in: A. number. B. gender. C. usage. D. both A & B Answer is D. 3. The indefinite...

English really needs another pronoun for cases like this! Traditionally, if the gender was unknown, the masculine pronoun would be used. In a grammar book from 50 years ago, your examples would most certainly use "his." Today this would still be considered grammatically correct, but...

If this sentence originated in the U.S., then failure to make the number (that is, the singularity or plurality) of the pronoun (in this case "their") match the number of the noun (in this case ''seller") is the result of what is termed "political correctness."...

Hi, I am a student and I am supposed to write an essay about grammatical genders in English. I've read a bit about it, but I still do not understand - do English use genders or did they only use it in the past (old English?) I would be really garteful if someone explained it to me! Thanks The...

You're correct, their is plural. It's becoming more acceptable, however, to use they/their as a "gender neutral" pronoun.