'What Is Singular They?': Oregon State Guide to Grammar

This video describes the rise of “they” as a singular pronoun, showing how it solves a grammatical conundrum and then comparing it to the transformed usage of “you” in the 17th century. Written and performed by Senior Instructor J.T. Bushnell, it is designed for high school and college students studying grammar, writing, or linguistics.

Below are a few more videos in this series. If there are topics you'd like to see us cover in the future, please let us know in the comments!

[iug]

As a french student in english litterature studies, your videos are really making this whole mess a bit easier, thank you for your help !

[SWLF]

If you enjoyed our video, please give it a like, ask a question, or give us your thoughts. Thanks for watching, everybody!

[wilhelmsarasalo]

"You" is different. In many languages the plural form is used when addressing a higher ranking person. My native Finnish has no gender, but in regular speech "he/she" (hän) is often referred to as "it" (se). Languages evolve.

[chrysshart]

Thank you for this. I used to be a stick-in-the-mud about grammar but then I listened to a Great Courses Plus lecture series about the history of language by John McWhorter and finally understood why that position was unhelpful at best. Education really is a vital key to breaking misconceptions.

[fernandanavarrolatorre]

I found your channel and I'm loving these videos so much! Thank you!

[matthewjbarron]

The singular "they" is precedented by Wm. Tyndale in his English translations of the Bible way back in the 16th century.

[tornrj]

As a Portuguese speaker, it was confusing not to know how to address neutral words such as "person", for Portuguese is a binary gender language and, for example, "person" is feminine and we use she/her to replace it. So, I would find it confusing how to refer to such words. I didn't know how to research it and tried many ways until I found out about "they". I had never noticed before its use, but after finding out about it, I observed its use in many books. Now I think it's easier for me to express myself. I've also found this usage in a Merrian Webster article and it said that it's older and could be found, for example, in Emily Dickinson's letter, in the 1800s.

[SaveDareDevil-Mx]

Hold on question, didn’t we as the english speaking society, & even most educated filmmakers, article writers, & manual makers, already just casually, instinctively, or offhandedly use singular-they in everything they wrote, like for example in a users manual, or when referring a user/player in a video game manual, as “they” everywhere within that manual? So as to apply to whoever was going to use their product?

Even if maybe slightly incorrect at the time, it was already common use no?

Cuz it’s way simpler than typing out he/she every single time no?

[benl]

So, when you're conjugating verbs for singular "they", do you conjugate them as you would for 3rd person singular (i.e. "they is") or for 3rd person plural (i.e. "they are")? "They is" sounds pretty strange to me, although I suppose it could be useful to differentiate singular "they" from plural "they".

[JK_JK_JK]

Is the person an amalgamation of two or more persons? In that case, I would use "they". If not, the person can select from the singular pronouns "he", "she", or "it".

[Ward]

I am an effeminate gay male who came out in my 20s in the 1980s, except to my parents. When my mother would ask me who I was going out with on a Saturday night, I would always say a friend of mine from school and only refer to him as "them" to hide his bio-sex. Years later, when I was "out" to my mother, she told me that she guessed I was trying to hide things from her by my use of "they/them" pronouns. The use of "they" as a singular has become more common since the 1960s. And when the actual bio-sex or trans-gender of a person is unknown (like in the video's example of "the writer"), then the use of "they" is perfectly acceptable because the phrase "she or he" is too cumbersome. However, what the video leaves out is when the bio-sex or trans-gender of the person is actually known, then "they" would not be appropriate because it keeps the person as an object, rather than a subject. For example in these sentences: [I am unfamiliar with this writer. Who are they?] Both the "writer" and "they" are descriptors of some person about whom little is known. That writer remains objectified. And since we would still say, "who are they", rather than, "who is they" because "they" is predominantly used to refer to a group, the singular "they" keeps the person objectified just like a group of people are more objects rather than individual subjects. Once the bio-sex or trans-gender of the person is known, that person becomes more of a subject, more personal. So, the use of "they" as a singular for a known person would actually be impolite as it tends to objectify the person. At that point we would use "he" or "she" as in: [That writer is a trans-gender woman. She writes well.] I will say that I would disagree with using "they" to describe postmodern philosophical non-genders, as these categories are imaginary. There is no gender spectrum. The science is clear as to males & females. And there is sufficient evidence that supports the existence of the brain dysphoria of truly trans-gender women and trans-gender men. And the polite use of "he" or "she" as pronouns for trans-gender persons is appropriate. And this would be true regardless of how far the trans-gender individual has transitioned. Sincerity is important. I learned that from my mother. So, let me be clear, I remain convinced that there are people with true trans-gender dysphoria. There are just not very many of them. The postmodern trans idea, which has recently exploded onto the scene, that someone is both female and male or is neither female nor male remains in the imagination or spirituality of the holder. And in polite society, there is no obligation for non-believers to deconstruct the English language to satisfy other people's imaginings. The one limited exception to use "they" for a known person would be for that extreme minority of people who are born intersex. And in that case if their sex is not deducible from outward appearance and general conversation, then just respectfully wing it and hope for the best.

[Khatoon]

Singular they was discouraged in academic writing, many advocacy groups and publishers have accepted and endorsed it . According to Oxford English Dictionary, singular they showed up in written in 1375 over 600 years ago. Singular they allows people to refer to individuals in such way that gender is not all salient, as opposed to gender third person singular pronouns he, she, which center gender as defining characteristics of individual they reference. Singular they along with inflected or derivatives forms, them, their, theirs, themselves. Also themselve and their self is gender neutral third person pronoun . Typically occur in sentence such as somebody left their umbrella in office . Could you please let them know where they can get it. Use of singular they emerged by 14 th century, about century after pronoun they . Thank you for your wonderful literary educational channel.

[colleenkennealy]

You do say that the "singular they" is used for "everyday language." If you're writing a business letter or a document to distribute to your students, do you personally use "they" or "he" in this situation? I have been resistant to accept the "singular they, " but might reconsider. Is it a bit like "gonna"? (e.g., "I'm gonna take the train.") OK for casual speech or texting, but not for a document you'd give to your boss?

[ThomasJDavis]

The only reason why "they" works as a singular pronoun is because its singular usage is first _contextualized_ within the sentence. It is intrinsically plural.

This is the answer.

[algotkristoffersson]

Question: what is wrong with this sentence, “If a writer doesn’t respect people’s pronouns they are stupid”

Answare” science we are using they in the singular, rather than the plural, it should actually be “they is” instead of “they are”

[insignificantfool]

Now there are three ways of saying the same thing. The traditional (natural) way: he. The feminist way: he or she. And the trans way: they. I prefer the traditional way. Sue me.

[UnoUrong]

So tell me please how do I refer to multiple people now?... They?... Or/and how do I refer to one person now?... They? That's why people assume "they" is plural. In a conversation we need to know without fiddling around what we are talking about and this is just ... well... Off.

In french the use of plural is used as a singular pronoun when in front of the person which is usually elderly, unknown or to put some distance out of respect

I am sorry but we can connect dots around to try to make it work but it doesn't solve the singular/plural issue in a discussion. It's a social trend IMO.

[michiban]

I think "he or she" is fine. Even the generic "he" isn't the worst in most situations, honestly, though I admit it can be problematic in some very rare instances. "They, " however, simply isn't correct as a singular pronoun--it's inherently plural. Using it as a singular pronoun is ungrammatical.

Also, the singular "they" is not necessary because "he, " "she, " and "it" already exist. The singular "they" doesn't meet an actual need in the language. That's also why trying to introduce new pronouns like "zhe" into the language doesn't make sense, either. Such pronouns wouldn't meet an actual need.

I think a lot of the push for repurposing "they" as a singular pronoun comes from the LGBTQ+ community because people want their sexual orientations to be recognized. That makes this not only a linguistic issue, but a moral one, and a huge part of how people view the issue stems from their worldviews. As it is, I can't support this from a moral standpoint, either, so the singular "they" is not something I can stand behind.

[McGregor]

Notice no mention of a singular “them” hahahaha. “They” can only be used singular in certain circumstances, mostly when regarding the past. It’s hard for me to think of any other examples that wouldn’t sound as if referring to multiple people. Most importantly when writing, if you refer to a singular individual as “they” instead of their name, he, or she.. the reader will have a lot more trouble following along…
It’s easy to just refer to singular people as He or She and I cannot wrap my mind around why people wouldn’t want to.

[lextalionis]

TLDW: women are blamed for destroying classical grammar.