[etni] Nadia's question regarding singular "their"
- From: "Batya" <batya_l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 11:53:57 +0200
**** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
Hi Nadia and others perplexed by grammar "rules",
Nadia's question was: "Could we use everybody with their? The sentence is : She
wants everybody to give her their books."
Singular "their" would definitely be acceptable in colloquial speech, and
possibly even in written texts, depending on the context. Here's a quote from a
really interesting article showing that Jane Austen and lots of others used
singular "their" regularly:
"Singular "their" etc., was an accepted part of the English language before the
18th-century grammarians started making arbitrary judgements as to what is
"good English" and "bad English", based on a kind of pseudo-"logic" deduced
from the Latin language, that has nothing whatever to do with English. And even
after the old-line grammarians put it under their ban, this anathematized
singular "their" construction never stopped being used by English-speakers,
both orally and by serious literary writers. So it's time for anyone who still
thinks that singular "their" is so-called "bad grammar" to get rid of their
prejudices and pedantry!" Read the whole article at:
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austheir.html#X1ai
There's also reference to the acceptability of singular "their" in "The Grammar
Book" (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 2nd ed., p.306).
If anyone is interested in discussing this and other interesting grammar
questions, I invite you to join my hishtalmut course "Pedagogical Grammar
Online". Ring "Talpiot" TC, and ask to speak to Livnat: 03-5128555 or myself at
09-8615724 (batya_l@xxxxxxxxxxx) "See you" there,
Chag sameach, shabbat shalom, and have a wonderful year,
Batya (Lederfein) (Talpiot College, and ETAI Forum editor)
##### To send a message to the ETNI list email: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx #####
##### Send queries and questions to: ask@xxxxxxxx #####
Other related posts:
- » [etni] Nadia's question regarding singular "their"
