What about “They?” Arlene Miller answers.

  • What about “They?” Arlene Miller answers.

    Arlene MillerGuest Blogger Arlene Miller, The Grammar Diva, gives us a sneak preview into her recently published second edition of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!

    If you are a member of the nerdy world of grammarians, you know that there are “controversial” grammar topics. One of those is the use of the Oxford comma. Another is the use of the singular they.

    I use the Oxford comma, and I don’t use the singular they. But both these issues are up to you. Let’s talk about the singular they.

    They is a pronoun. A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun. We know that they is third person plural. Third person singular pronouns are he, she, and it.

     Now how many times have you said, or heard someone say, Everyone is bringing their book to the meeting or something similar? Let’s pick that sentence apart:

    This is an issue of agreement: a singular subject has a singular verb form to go with it. And a singular noun or pronoun will have a singular pronoun of the same gender stand in for it. Everyone sounds plural, but it is singular. You can tell because you use a singular verb with it; you wouldn’t say Everyone are bringing. But you would say They are bringing because they is plural. Okay, so we have a singular subject (everyone) and a matching singular verb (is bringing), but what about their book? Their is plural. It doesn’t agree.

    Now if we said Everyone on the girls basketball team has her uniform, we would all be happy.

    But if everyone refers to a mixture of male and female, or if we simply don’t know, what do we do? Well, we used to just say his or her and be done with it. Actually, before that, we probably used to just say his and be done with it — but that is not politically correct and will not do any longer.

    What to do . . . what to do . . .

    Well, most everyone just uses their. It is easier to use one word than that clunky old his or her. The English language, so far, doesn’t have a word that can stand in for either a singular male or female.

    The sentence Everyone is bringing their book to the meeting is now acceptable and considered correct. Most people use it and have been using it, without knowing or caring, forever. But many people, especially when making a speech, do use he or she, or his or her. 

     Many grammarians and language purists are horrified by the use — and even more, the acceptance — of the singular they.

    My advice is to rewrite your sentence to avoid the issue entirely. It is usually really easy to do: Everyone is bringing a book to the meeting.

    Problem solved . . .

    Six years ago, I published my first book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!. Since then, I have written five more grammar books and a novel. Now, a second edition of that first book, with a new format, a new subtitle, and new information has been published. New information, you might ask?  Does grammar change? Yes, slowly, but things do change, although there are always those (me, among them) who would rather stick to the “rules”!

    Arlene Miller, The Grammar Diva, is also a blogger, copyeditor, speaker, and former English teacher.  She is a member of Redwood Writers and Bay Area Independent Publishers Association, where she has been a featured speaker.

    Book Launch for the Second Edition of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Speak and Write with Confidence/Avoid Common Mistakes  will be in the form of a Grammar Workshop at Petaluma Copperfield’s Books on Saturday, August 6 at 1 p.m.

    Marlene C

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  • Guest blogger Arlene Miller asks, “Should we dumb down the language?”

    Guest Blogger Arlene Miller writes:

    I am a member of some grammar groups on LinkedIn, where there are fascinating — and long – discussions of what some people would call grammatical minutiae. However, this week, I saw a discussion that I found a little surprising. The question posed was “Should we continue to teach who and whom to our students?” the real question is: Should we continue to teach the difference between them and when to use each?

    On my blog, bigwords 101, I talked about the difference between linguistic and grammatical prescriptivism and descriptivism:

    ▪    Prescriptivists (the camp that I lean toward) think that the rules are there and they should be followed.

    ▪    Descriptivists believe that language evolves as new usages come into play.

    Well, if we followed a purely prescriptivist viewpoint, we would still be using the language of centuries ago – thank you, Chaucer.

    But what would happen if we followed a purely descriptivist viewpoint? How does language change, anyway?

    Let’s look at an example: I have always used the idiomatic prepositional phrase by accident. The younger generation seems to be using on accident instead. Is it wrong? Which is right? Should we adopt what the younger generation is now using? Is there a reason that by should be used rather than on? Why did anyone start saying it that way in the first place? Is it because we say its opposite as on purpose?

    People use who and whom incorrectly because they don’t know or understand the rule. Should we say, “Oh, let’s just forget trying. It’s just too difficult to teach or understand”? Should we dumb down the language? Or, should we avoid using whom?

    Taking who and whom specifically,  there is a reason that who is correct sometimes and whom is correct other times. And most people studying a foreign language will run across the same thing in that language.

    The distinction between who and whom is the same as the distinction between I and me. Are we now going to say “Me and him went to the movies” is okay? If many people say it that way, will that become the standard?

    Then, there is the issue of conversation versus formal writing. Let’s say you are writing a cover letter. Are you going to distinguish between who and whom? All the grammar books I know of make that distinction, at least as of now. I would recommend that anyone writing anything formal use the rules until they are “formally” changed.

    The evolution of language is nothing new. And I won’t pretend to know much about it. I am not a linguist, although I wish I were, and I find the subject fascinating.  I do know that there needs to be a mix of descriptivism and prescriptivism, as there always has been; otherwise, the language would never have changed throughout the centuries. But where do we draw the line?

    But who and whom? That’s where I draw the line!

    Here is the difference between who and whom:

    There are three cases for pronouns in the English language: Nominative, Objective, and Possessive.

    ▪    The nominative case is used for subjects of sentences (and predicate nominatives, but we won’t go there today).

    ▪    The objective case is used for direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions, the three types of objects.

    ▪    The possessive case is used for ownership.

    Let’s take the pronoun I: nominative is I; objective is me; possessive is my or mine.

    ▪    I am going to the movies.

    ▪    He took me to the movies.

    ▪    He is mine.

    Now let’s take the pronoun who: nominative is who; objective is whom; possessive is whose.

    ▪    Who is going to the movies? (Who is the subject of the verb is going.)

    ▪    Whom did you invite to the movies? (Whom is the direct object of the verb invite.)

    ▪    To whom did you give the movie tickets? (Whom is the object of the preposition to.)

    ▪    Whose tickets are they, anyway?

    One thing is for sure. I will be teaching my students the difference between who and whom!

    Click here to read the original blog post “‘Whom’ Cares?” by Arlene Miller.

     Arlene MillerArlene Miller, also known as The Grammar Diva, is the author of four grammar books and a novel. Her first grammar book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever, is being used by many schools and colleges. Arlene’s grammar books clear up common grammar issues. In addition to writing books, Arlene writes a weekly blog post about grammar, punctuation, and anything else to do with words. She is also a copyeditor for both fiction and nonfiction books, teaches 7th grade English in Petaluma, teaches The Best Little Grammar Class Ever at College of Marin, and teaches corporate grammar and business writing workshops.

    Arlene has been a presenter at the Sonoma County Book Festival, Bay Area Independent Publishing Association (BAIPA), Petaluma and Guerneville branches of the Sonoma County Library, Romance Writers of America, Society of Technical Communications, and Redwood Writers Academy. She is a member of Redwood Writers and BAIPA. She holds degrees in Print Media, English, Humanities, and California teaching and school administration credentials.

    Marlene C

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