Singular 'they' / Practice English with Paul

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Singular 'they'
Hello my friends and welcome to Practice English with Paul. Today it’s grammar; it is the singular ‘they’. Now this is a mistake many of my students have made over the years in their essays especially at FCE, even surprisingly sometimes, CAE. You should not be making this kind of mistake at CAE. Now we know the word ‘they’ the pronoun and it is followed by a plural verb. They are…. They like….. They were…. But sometimes we use the pronoun ‘they’ with a singular noun. Now let’s have a look at how this works, so we can avoid making mistakes in the future. They/them/their. We use them after nouns of unidentified people or a job whose role is a man or a woman and there is no way of knowing if that role is for a man or a woman. Now if you look at German or if you know German, German has suffixes belonging to their roles that tell you that job is of man or of a woman. Lehrer - lehrerin. English doesn’t have that. We just have the one word ‘teacher’ and it doesn’t tell you if it’s a man or a woman. Now, if you have a look at this example: ‘A doctor looks after his patients.’ That is wrong because the doctor here could be a woman. Saying ‘his’ could be sexist and is wrong. So, how do we avoid this? We can say: ‘A doctor looks after his or her patients.’ You will see such a structure sometimes in English. It’s correct, it’s fine or we can improve it. We can say ‘A doctor looks after their patients.’ Their - meaning the doctor who is a man or a woman so it’s a singular noun with a plural idea. Man or woman. That’s very important to understand. Other such words like this: teacher, pilot, paramedic et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But not only jobs. Now, unidentified people, we have the pronouns like somebody and anyone. This can also take the singular ‘they’. For example, somebody has forgotten their book. That somebody could be a boy or a girl. If anyone touches you (man or woman), I’ll kill them. Do you understand how it works? This is a fantastic way of reducing your word limit in your essays for your FCEs, CAEs. On top of that it’s a fantastic way of avoiding or upsetting people because you got their gender wrong. Whenever you’re unsure if it’s a man or a woman always use the singular ‘they’. You can’t make a mistake with it. Any questions, please write them below in the comment section and I will be happy to help you. Please subscribe to my channel and please give a thumbs-up. Thank you very much. Have a good day.

[@JJJJ-gl2uf]

Good work Paul. I just had to explain this to my Chinese students today, and your video will help them understand more clearly.

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

I am just going to make a general comment here on behalf of everyone :) I have read some very interesting comments and have reached some conclusions... there is always a conflict between those who have a dogmatic approach to grammar rules who are maybe from cultures where there are prescribed rules like in Russia and Germany. On the other hand, there is the descriptive approach which is typical of the English speaking world where if something is widely used, then it must be right. But from what I have noicted here is more of a cultural transplanation where people carry over the gender specific labelling into English. This is an area where learners ought to be careful depending on whose company you're in should you ever be in an English speaking country. Mind you, with all the interesting comments, I am going to conduct some reseach among English native speakers on the use of THEY. We might get some very interesting results. Did you know that in Cambridge ESOL exams, THEY is totally acceptable but in TOEFL, candidates are required to use HE? I will make a video on the findings and will share with all of you :) And a big thanks to all of you for your interest :)

[@cristhiansanchez8567]

Thank you very much. As a spanish native speaker, I learned a lot from this video.

[@davidpar2]

“Singular” they is _accepted_ use in informal correspondence, not correct grammar.

[@navigatingel6104]

In other words its connotative right?

[@oppie47]

I don't understand the resistance so many people have to using singular they. It's funny how you never see these same people starting arguments in favor of resurrecting 'thou' as the singular you. Saying 'you guys' or 'you all' seems a little bit clunky and awkward at times. Personally, I think resurrecting 'thou' might be a much more useful battle worth fighting, as I feel modern English somehow lacks in clarity with its loss. This is absolutely not the case with singular they, as any native speaker can always spot the difference between the singular and plural contexts. Singular they carries absolutely no content loss, unlike singular you.

[@lewwatanabe637]

+oppie47 The police officer Leslie Smith did their best. They tried to save the child, but they failed. They did their best. We respect them.

[@mep6302]

You should rescue "thou". I hate adding all or guys to refer the plural. But if they replaces he, she and it like you did with thou? Didn't you think about it? If you do love your language, you'll speak it properly. If you don't, you speak using grammatical mistakes. Using they to express plural for example. If it is accepted is because now all dictionaries accept every thing with no sense. Languages "are envolving". What I'm seeing is that languages are getting worse

[@john-dergeist-zensen784]

They is a stand-in for "he' and " she, " that is to say "they" is a 3rd person singular, in this case; thus, you need to conjugate it accordingly: 'My brother fall yesterday, I hope he is okay" "I saw someone fall yesterday, I hope they is okay.' It's not strictly the fact you wish to misuse a plural as a singular, it's the fat that you wish to bastardize a plural pronoun, stick in a singular context and conjugate is a plural.

[@denisebranquinho2377]

it is very interesting and strange, because in Portuguese it doesn't exist. i mean, the things doesn't work like that. But, ok, English is complete different from Portuguese. i am gonna study more about these structure. Thank you, Paul!

[@gerakoza]

Do residents say this?

[@theaquarius602]

Great video! One of my students asked me about this the other day and I was wondering if it's just a modern trend or if it had actually become the rule. I guess I found the answer :) Thanks!

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+theaquarius602 I am glad i have helped :) After this video I now pay attention to when I use it. I can say: all the time as well as other natives. it is a very common structure :)

[@lewwatanabe637]

+theaquarius602 Political correctness sucks. Until about 1980, "he" had been used to refer to a person of unspecified sex, as in every child needs to know that he is loved.

[@theaquarius602]

Lew Watanabe, nobody wants to know about how language was used in 1980...or in 1920...or in 1850...or in 1600! What's most important to the esl learner today is how language is used now in 2016 ;)

[@masatotanaka2657]

+theaquarius602 "What's most important to the esl learner today is how language is used now in 2016." A basic grammar rule like the use of "they" does not change within 30 years. Referring to an indefinite person like somebody(or a doctor) as they has been grammatical since Shakespeare's time. But referring to a specific definite person like Leslie Smith as they has not been grammatical. If "Leslie Smith did their best" was OK, then "John Smith did their best" should be OK, too, because you never know that John Smith is transgender. Which is absurd.

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+Masato Tanaka Hello my friend:) The point is that Leslie can be a male or female name. John is male without a doubt. If we start getting into the whole transgender issue, then we are just clutching at straws and i will avoid that. The only time I, a native speaker, would use"they/their" with Leslie is if someone ran into the room to say something like "Leslie has won the lottery" (and i don't know who Leslie is), I would reply "Well done to them!" But then the other speaker might say "Yes, she is so happy!" Now i have my gender. But in everyday English, if we know there might be confusion then we will add more detail "Leslie is so happy. SHE said SHE'd collect HER winnings tomorrow." But i think this whole debate here is pointless. My video stresses the fact that when we have a gender-neutral noun, we need to use "they" as in the example: a teacher must mark THEIR students' homework. Not all teachers are women and i would feel a bit pissed off if at a conference someone said "A teacher must mark her student's homework." I am right now at work in the teachers's room with only male teachers)) It is not so much about PC as some people believe but about respect. But thank you for your comment) Wishing you a geat day)

[@aligavalya5075]

Thank you for making this video! I have some acquaintances who feel as though the only people who use the singular they are “sensitive” teenagers or are just trying to “change grammar rules.” Maybe hearing it from you could help them :)

[@yuriyvyatkin]

Very helpful lesson. Thank you a lot.

[@marcosherrera382]

Do you have something on compound adjectives? i find them really difficult because most of the teachers say that they are only two or three words describing something and thats all, they give us the same examples like he's a well-dressed man or it's a man-eating lion i hope you can make a video on that thank you

[@andreagiraldomdphd.8376]

Dear Sir, I would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to let me have a item of information about "one". Let me explain presently: I haven't ever known that I could have used "one" instead of personal subject pronun ( He, She), for instance: A student needs to use all the knowledge ONE has if ONE is going to succeed. Could I use that one instead of I and we ?. Please accept my depeest apologises for disturbing you. I pay my respects to You. A

[@daryayoko7178]

I am from Brazil. Thank you

[@tumul1474]

thank you sir it was very helpful!!

[@roroaboud4351]

Thank you for vedio and I wanna write an example The pilot arrives their people The teacher helps they need But I don't know if my soulation is right, would you please to help me and giving me an example about( them) thanks

[@roroaboud4351]

Please answer to my question

[@nitsugoYT]

My issue with the singular they is that having a word that is the situations where one would like to use a pronoun in which the context would make sense for you to be describing a mentioned organization or group of person as well as the person one is trying to address. The word being required to cover both the plural and the singular leads it to being not as useful as a word for the singular than the gendered singular pronouns due to the increased ambiguity involved. I do think the solution is better, but I think creating a new word to fill the purpose which I think was mostly done out of the difficulties and effort involved in introducing a new closed word to our daily language even if it might be more efficient in the long run.

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+nitsugoYT Hello there. Firstly it was a bit difficult to understand what you were exactly trying to say. I can assume you are not a native speaker. So i will put it like this: There is NO ambiguity. it avoids offense. I am a teacher and I am a man. How should i respond if in a meeting someone said: A teacher should look after her students. I am not HER. I am HIM. So we can say: A teacher should look after HIS/HER students. Or We can use (which has been around for manyyyyy years: THEY). Ask any native speaker in English, there is no ambiguity. We use THEY after such words like: anyone, someone and jobs where genders are never specified. It is a very basic rule in English.

[@macmcleod1188]

@@PracticeEnglishwithPaul Exactly.. when talking to someone about usage of the word "they", it doesn't matter to them and they understand. Besides, any serious grammarian knows the word they was a legitimate genderless pronoun since the 1600's and they don't have a problem with using the word that way. They is certainly better than "he/she", "genderless he" (lol- as if), "s/he", etc. The words They and Them are useful when gender is unknown or immaterial: "Someone is on the phone!" "ask THEM what THEY want!" (and yes-- this reply is a bit late. lol)

[@lepetitbrabancon3181]

To cure 1 patient from coronavirus costs a lot of money if THEM (OR THEY?) needs oxygen. Paul can you help?

[@clairetodd6052]

It costs a lot of money to cure one patient from coronavirus if THEY NEED oxygen.

[@Zerenko]

Perfectly put, thanks. Interesting though, you'd be surprised to learn that some people do, in fact, protest to being refered to with they/them/their pronouns in the singular. These are typically transgender individuals who see any use of language towards them that is not gendered, to be an invalidation of their gender identity. I've even personally been corrected by a transman - in person - for refering to the individual as "they" in the singular. They told me I was misgendering them by using gender-neutral language, and that it felt as though I was taking away their gender identity of non-binary. I tried to explain that "gender-neutral prounoun" means that the pronoun is gramatically correct, regardless of the person's gender- and DOESN'T mean that the pronoun should only be used to refer to "gender-neutral" people. They did not realise their error even after our talk, truly astonishing.

[@archzoro1080]

I've really never got this. I'm a nonbinary person who prefers using he/him pronouns and they/them pronouns. I've seen some transgender people (notably a trans women on Tik Tok) complain about people asking for her pronouns. It's so stupid. But, there are some times that people try to use they/them pronouns for a transgender person to avoid using their correct pronouns, but this is pretty rare and very obviously not what you were doing. I hope that person realizes his mistake and, frankly, how idiotic he sounded.

[@KaoriKino]

It's okay to use they if you don't know someone's pronouns, but if you know a binary trans person's pronouns it's insulting to continue to use the ones they don't prefer, if that makes sense.

[@Zerenko]

​@@KaoriKino Every human being can be refered to as "they" or "them", regardless of their personal theory of their gender identity, however. I've encountered people who think that being refered to as "they" is a slight against their gender identity... Likewise i've had my ex gf (non-binary) tell me that it made her feel "invalidated" when i didn't use gendered language to address "cis" people (like if i said about my teacher: "they're giving way too much homework today"). Lots of ignorance and mental illness involved with pronoun discourse unfortauntely

[@lewwatanabe637]

The police officer Leslie Smith did their best. They tried to save the child, but they failed. They did their best. We respect them.

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+Lew Watanabe I am interested, where did you see this?

[@lewwatanabe637]

+Practice English with Paul I made it up. Is it OK, if the gender of Leslie Smith is unknown to to the speaker?

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+Lew Watanabe I really like your example for that reason. Yes, because Leslie can be a man or a woman's name. So if the text was written without any reference to the gender of "Leslie" (which I think would be bad jorunalism if it were in some article) then yes, we'd have to use 'they' and like you said in a previous post, it would sound ridiculously PC :))

[@lewwatanabe637]

+Practice English with Paul I think referring to a non-specific indefinite person like everyone, anyone, or someone as they is okay, because they are semantically plural. But referring to a specific definite person like Leslie Smith as they is not OK, because it is both semantically and syntactically singular. If it is OK due to PC, then it should be OK to refer to every person as they because you never know whether they are LBGT or not, which means you can always replace he or she by they.

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+Lew Watanabe That is now just being pedantic because in any text where confusion may occur as to the gender of "Leslie," it would be made clear if Leslie is male or female. I get the impression that you want to uphold traditionalist values but English is moving on. It's got nothing to do with LGBT or whatever. If someone says a "a teacher must look after her students" assuming that most teachers are women, I would get a bit pissed off because I am a guy as are the most of the people i work with in the teaching profession. If you're in court and your judge is a woman, would you generically still refer to judges as "he" thus pissing her right off? While there may be some PC involved, it's more about being respectful and English has survived for many years with this form of grammar. If nations have their own way of dealing with this, be my guest. This is English and there's no arguing with it.

[@vickibaars5393]

It's also worth noting that people with non binary gender identities often use they as a singular pronoun rather than he or she.

[@cloudambient]

"The two people in the boat are Jimmy and their dad." - is poor English. Singular they doesn't ALWAYS work.

[@aaronlyon2943]

@@cloudambient Just say you don't understamd English vernacular and move on lol

[@cloudambient]

@@aaronlyon2943 I think what you're trying to say is "everyone who disagrees with me needs to shut up".

[@aaronlyon2943]

@@cloudambient Essentially yes because I at least research this stuff. Other people just disagree because they're angry lol

[@cloudambient]

@@aaronlyon2943 I've never researched a single thing in my life. Will you cite your sources so I can educate myself?

[@pooplord6688]

Okay, whatever people think about the singular "they," using either male or female pronouns for an unspecified person is not "wrong!" "A doctor looks after his patients" is perfectly fine, and any English teacher who says that it isn't is pushing a political agenda.

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

pooplord66 where are you from?

[@pooplord6688]

Canada.

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

pooplord66 i asked because according to TOEFL (for US and Canada mainly) the plural THEY isn't accepted where for British based exams it is pushed for.

[@mep6302]

Use it instead. It is singular and neutral. They is plural. The end of the story. Problem solved xD

[@bcnihao]

Argh, no, they is not singular.

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+bcnihao Did you watch the video to get even the slightest inclination about the theme??? Did you notice in the title I put apostrophes around 'they' emphasizing that something "might' be different here? Does ANYONE pay attention to THEIR words when they write? (I dropped a hint)

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+bcnihao and mate, one last thing: Check Michael Swan's: Practical English Usage (one of the most popular grammar reference books in the world). Even the guru, Michael Swan, refers to it as "Singular They. " Just next time, double check before commenting.

[@bcnihao]

+Practice English with Paul Yes, I did.

[@bcnihao]

+Practice English with Paul So you think Swan is correct on this because . . . ?

[@PracticeEnglishwithPaul]

+bcnihao emmmmmm because Swan has produced some of the best selling grammar reference books in the world. Common sense would assume his success is based on him, among many others, being correct. Have you tried typing 'Singular They' into Google? If I am wrong, please tell me how i should change the title for this area of grammar which students misuse. I asked SOMEONE yesterday but THEY were too busy sadly. (got the hint?)

[@ericgeorge5531]

Stop calling me gay

[@BReNĐN-c6n]

They is plural

[@aaronlyon2943]

Aww yes, disagree with a LITERAL ENGLISH TEACHER.

[@macmcleod1188]

@@aaronlyon2943 When someone says "They is plural", I have to wonder what are they thinking?