Talk:Stevonnie/@comment-25892511-20160127060754/@comment-508329-20160131014843


 * "Using they or them as a gender neutral pronoun is gramatically incorrect when referring the one person because they/them is a plural pronoun."

That's what I used to think. Then I found this last year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Older_usage_by_respected_authors

Singular they has been around for over 600 years. Back in the 1800s, it fell out of fashion in academic & literary circles, but there has been a recent resurgence in popularity.

I'd prefer it if the English language got a polite third-person pronoun that avoids that whole singular / plural ambiguity problem, but singular they is the most official, most grammatically correct option, and it's going to stay that way unless people get together & endorse one of the alternatives. (Like "thon" or "ve" or Spivak pronouns.)