While the sentiment is nice, the pronoun-antecedent agreement problem is not. The antecedent of THEIR is PERSON. PERSON is singular; THEIR is plural. THEIR should be HIS or HER.
"Their" perfectly fine. It is a pronoun that has been used to refer to singular antecedents for over six centuries. It has been used both in informal speech and formal, literary writing for that entire period. You can find it in the writing of many of the best writers the English language has produced.
The "rule" about pronoun agreement was invented out of whole cloth in the 18th century, and found its way into many school textbooks in the 19th century. Meanwhile, competent writers continued to ignore and write both beautiful and functional English that used it.
It's a rule that deserves to be ditched, especially with if the alternative is the clumsy construction "his or her".
"Their" perfectly fine. It is a pronoun that has been used to refer to singular antecedents for over six centuries. It has been used both in informal speech and formal, literary writing for that entire period. You can find it in the writing of many of the best writers the English language has produced.
ReplyDeleteThe "rule" about pronoun agreement was invented out of whole cloth in the 18th century, and found its way into many school textbooks in the 19th century. Meanwhile, competent writers continued to ignore and write both beautiful and functional English that used it.
It's a rule that deserves to be ditched, especially with if the alternative is the clumsy construction "his or her".
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/he-they-generic-personal-pronoun.aspx
ReplyDeleteThis article deals with many aspects of this issue.