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Comments on Does using plural form for singular object make sense?

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Does using plural form for singular object make sense?

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Some people use they/them if they can't identity gender/sex (gender and sex isn't same). But when mentioning a single person should we use plural pronoun?

We know that "they/them" is plural form. But "he/she" is singular form. Recently, a person was telling me to use they/them if I don't know (or identify) his/her gender. But why plural form make sense for singular person?

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One misconception: They/them has not been strictly plural for quite a long time. Even Shakespeare used it.

There's not a man I meet but doth salute me / as if I were their well-acquainted friend

(From Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, written sometime around the late sixteenth century)

Using they as a singular pronoun is perfectly fine, especially when you don't know the gender of the person (or when they are non-binary).

Historically, of course, "they" is plural. That is why it goes with the plural conjunction of verbs - "they are" and not "they is". However, the same can be said for "you" (which was also historically plural, with the singular being "thou"), and I don't think any modern speaker would ever argue that "you" cannot be singular. This just to say, history does not dictate modern language. Many authoritative English guides[1] accept it (at least informally), so if you look to them, then you should feel free to use it.

On another note, one thing that doesn't yet have a consensus is whether the singular referential should be "themselves" or "themself". The former is the historical one, the latter the more logical one.


  1. Pick from your favored style guide: MLA, APA, Chicago ↩︎

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You are
Jirka Hanika‭ wrote over 2 years ago

I think that the parallel with "you are" could be made much more prominent and also made easier to understand for people to whom thou lovest me/I love thee/ye love me/I love you is no longer recognizable grammar. (Still, it's just a parallel process and not a compelling reason for anything new.) The rest of your answer is an appeal to an authority... and if somebody currently feels that something "doesn't make sense", then they typically don't want to hear that it "makes sense" to others. That said, I benefitted from both parts of your answer.