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Re: His/Her v. Their

Subject: Re: His/Her v. Their
From: Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:42:59 -0700

On 10/26/2012 1:11 PM, Porrello, Leonard wrote:

Show me how you would rewrite the following sentences so that your revisions are equally grammatically correct, grammatically complete, and as strait forward as the original:

-A good student always does his homework.
-If someone asks you for help, give it to him.
-When a customer argues, always agree with him.
-A secretary should keep his temper in check.
-A janitor should respect her employers.
-Every plumber has her own tools.
-A nurse should always be kind to his patients.

I love quizzes, can I play? All of the examples can be easily by pluralizing the entire phrase.

-Good students always do their homework.
-Give people help when they ask.
-Always agree with argumentative customers.

...etc.

These examples do not present cases where a pronoun is necessary, let alone where it may be necessary to use a plural pronoun to refer to a singular person.

How about this example?

When creating a new user account, enter [his/her | their | the] personal information in the correct fields.

I would choose "the user's" for a reference in place of the pronouns or evasive, "the."



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Follow-Ups:

References:
His/Her v. Their: From: Becca
RE: His/Her v. Their: From: Ben Davies
RE: His/Her v. Their: From: Porrello, Leonard
RE: His/Her v. Their: From: Ben Davies
RE: His/Her v. Their: From: Porrello, Leonard

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