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The alternative to the masculine generic with the longest and most distinguished history in English is the third-person plural pronoun. Recognized writers have used they, them, themselves, and their to refer to singular nouns such as one, a person, an individual, and each since the 1300s. For example, in 1759 the Earl of Chesterfield wrote, “If a person is born of a…gloomy temper…they cannot help it,” and, echoing this sentiment, W. M. Thackeray wrote in Vanity Fair in 1848, “A person can’t help their birth.” 1
Modern writers of note, from George Bernard Shaw to Anne Morrow Lindbergh, have also used this construction, in sentences such as To do a person in means to kill them and When you love someone you do not love them all the time. The practice is widespread and can be found in such mainstream publications as Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, Discover, and Wall Street Journal. 2
The use of the plural pronoun to refer to a singular noun or pronoun is hardly restricted to writing, however. Its use is so common in speech as to go without being noticed. And it is a favorite among advertisers, as in the slogan In matters of taste, to each their own. 3
When people shy away from using they to refer to a singular antecedent, it is usually out of respect for the traditional grammatical rule concerning pronoun agreement. Most of the Usage Panel rejects the use of they with singular antecedents as ungrammatical, even in informal speech. Eighty-two percent find the sentence The typical student in the program takes about six years to complete their course work unacceptable. Interestingly enough, panel members seem to make a distinction between singular nouns, such as the typical student and a person, and pronouns that are grammatically singular but semantically plural, such as anyone, everyone, and no one. Sixty-four percent of panel members accept the sentence No one is willing to work for those wages anymore, are they? in informal speech. Many writers might now consider this too fine a distinction—rejecting they for singular nouns but allowing it for singular pronouns that are plural in meaning—perhaps because they feel it will be missed by readers, who might merely think that the writer is being inconsistent.