The Canadian government recommends themselves as the reflexive form of singular they for use in Canadian federal legislative texts and advises against using themself. "It is not an actor pretending to be Reagan or Thatcher, it is, in grotesque form, the person themself." - Ian Hislop (1984) quoted in Fowler's Regional preferences It is useful when referring to a single person of indeterminate gender, where the plural form themselves might seem incongruous, as in: In 2002, Payne and Huddleston, in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, called its use in standard dialect "rare and acceptable only to a minority of speakers" but "likely to increase with the growing acceptance of they as a singular pronoun". Its use has been increasing since the 1970s or 1980s, though it is sometimes still classified as "a minority form". Themself is attested from the 14th to 16th centuries. If I lose my phone, a child lends me its. If I lose my phone, a child lends me his. If I lose my phone, a child lends me theirs.Ī child dresses themself. If I lose my phone, my children lend me theirs. If I lose my phone, my daughter lends me hers. Inflected forms of third-person personal pronouns them, their, and theirs), except that in the reflexive form, themself is sometimes used instead of themselves. Like the "singular you", "singular they" permits a singular antecedent, but is used with the same verb forms as plural they, and has the same inflected forms as plural they (i.e. 4.3 Referential and non-referential anaphors.3.2 Usage guidance in British style guides.3.1.11 The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing.3.1.7 The Little, Brown Handbook (1992).Williams's The Basics of Clarity and Grace (2009) 3.1.5 Strunk & White's The Elements of Style.3.1.4 Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.3.1.3 The American Heritage Book of English Usage (1996).3.1 Usage guidance in American style guides.3 Acceptability and prescriptive guidance.2.4.3 Use for specific, known people, including non-binary people.2.4.2 Use with a generic noun as antecedent.2.4.1.1 Notional plurality or pairwise relationships.2.3 The rise of gender-neutral language.2.2 Contemporary use of he to refer to a generic or indefinite antecedent.1 Inflected forms and derivative pronouns.In 2020, the American Dialect Society also selected it as Word of the Decade for the 2010s. I met them at work." They in this context was named Word of the Year for 2015 by the American Dialect Society, and for 2019 by Merriam-Webster. In the early 21st century, use of singular they with known individuals emerged for people who do not identify as male or female, as in, for example, "This is my friend, Jay. Though some early-21st-century style guides described it as colloquial and less appropriate in formal writing, by 2020 most style guides accepted the singular they as a personal pronoun. Its continued use in modern standard English has become more common and formally accepted with the move toward gender-neutral language. Singular they has been criticised since the mid-18th century by prescriptive commentators who consider it an error. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since and has gained currency in official contexts. This use of singular they had emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the plural they. Could you please let them know where they can get it?" " The patient should be told at the outset how much they will be required to pay." "But a journalist should not be forced to reveal their sources." " Somebody left their umbrella in the office. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentences such as: Singular they, along with its inflected or derivative forms, them, their, theirs and themselves (or themself), is an epicene (gender-neutral) third-person pronoun.
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