[Jill Malcolm]

Two notes on pronoun agreement

I am clarifying the following issue as I find mistakes are common.

1. In the past the rule was that the male pronoun (he or his) be used to cover both male and female.

eg. A good mountain climber should always take care of <i>his </i>boots.

In this gender aware age we’ve had to find way around this sexist ruling.

<u>Here are two solutions</u>

a. A good mountain climber should always take care of his or her boots

b. A good mountain climber should always take care of <i>his/her</i>boots.

2. Another common error is when a plural pronoun is used to refer to a collective noun.

eg. The council put forward <i>their</i>decision.

Because there are many people working at the council, writers are inclined to think of the plural.

The correct version is: The council has made <i>its </i>decision

[Contact NZIBS]

Jill,

Is it ever OK to use “their” in place of “his or her’ or “his/her”?

“A good mountain climber should always take care of their boots.”

Or:

“Good mountain climbers should always take care of their boots.”

I find the his/her a bit clunky if used more than once in a piece of writing.

 

[Jill Malcolm]

Hi Rose.

I agree that his/her is clunky after a while. But using their for a single  subject is incorrect. Sometimes you can reconstruct the sentence so you don’t have to us the pronoun at all.

 

thanks for your query