In editing my newest story, I’ve come across a problem with pronouns. Pronouns are those pesky “he,” “she,” “they,” or “it” words that allow us to talk about someone previously introduced. The problem I’ve been having is this: I have a character whose gender is unknown, at least in the beginning, what to I refer to he or she as? Or can I use “they” or “it” instead?
Which Pronoun Should You Use?
This problem has changed, much like the English Language, to evolve with Society. I’ll get to that in a minute.
First, let me explain that there are single and plural pronouns. The words “he,” “she,” and “it” are singular words referring to one person or thing. Traditionally “it” is not used on people, but to animals or things.
The plural pronouns are words like “they,” “them,” and “theirs.” These words are traditionally used when talking about a group or groups of people.
What happens if you have one person, but you don’t know his or her gender? The older convention is to use ‘he,’ ‘him,’ or any other male pronoun when talking about a singular non-gender specific person.
Using the male pronouns can be sexist, especially if the non-gender specified person is in fact a “she.” So that’s why we started using “he or she.” The problem is that using “he or she” uses three words where one will do. It is clunky and long.
These days, it is now acceptable to use the plural non-gender specific word for a singular non-gender specific word. It is accepted by the oxford dictionary (article here). Now I can say, “The hooded figure needed the hood to keep their identity a secret so we don’t know their gender.”
So basically it all comes down to style now. All three cases are acceptable to use, but using “they” or “their” is a more recent change to our language. Some don’t recognize this as proper use as “they” and “their” are traditionally plural.
Other References
Don’t forget to check out my first story, The Key. It’s $0.99 on Amazon and FREE on smashwords.