I found this post when I noticed a link to my blog. Good post on the commonly used singular use of ‘they’.
The Art of Editing: The Art of Editing, or Should Writers Use the Singular “They”?
Singular Nouns with Plural Pronouns
I recently completed line editing a dystopian novel. After going through my edits, the author wrote to me with several questions, prefacing them with this statement:
“I made the mistake of not pestering my last editor on details like these. I’m not making that mistake again.”
He was absolutely correct to question something he didn’t understand, and I assured him that I would answer any queries he had. After all, how can writers improve their writing if they write in a vacuum?
One of his questions concerned pronouns and antecedents:
I’ve read about the use and acceptance of gender-neutral pronouns. I prefer gender-neutral pronouns when I talk. You seem to be correcting against the use of gender-neutral pronouns in my writing. May I ask why? Is the world about to go to war over this? I really wish it wasn’t an issue, but apparently it still is. Does using gender-neutral…
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MTR 