From: edp@math.zko.dec.com (Eric Postpischil)
Subject: Re: Playing Games with Words
Reply-To: edp@math.zko.dec.com (Eric Postpischil)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 14:01:46 GMT

Original attribution lost:

> I do like using "they" as a singular but it is bad grammar and my supervisor
> wont let me do it.

Using "they" in the singular is not bad grammar.  The words "they",
"their", "them", and even "themselves" have both singular and plural
meanings and have as long as Modern English has existed and even before
that.  These words are and always have been singular as well as plural. 
Their use in the singular antedates dictionaries and even the
colonialization of America.  Below, I enclose citations from the OED
that show use of these words in the singular as far back as the 1300s --
six hundred years ago.  It is interesting to look at the oldest
citations and see that much of the sentence is barely recognizable --
English has grown and changed, with most of it words changing spelling
and use.  But during all that change, "they" has remained singular!  So
not only is it proper in the singular, it is one of the MOST ENDURING
aspects of English.

Tell your supervisor they are wrong.  There is simply no evidence that
these words are not proper in the singular.  The myth that they are not
singular is a modern creation of grammarians; it is not descriptive of
the English language, in either historical or current use.

                                -- edp (Eric Postpischil)
                                "Always mount a scratch monkey."
                                edp@alien.enet.dec.com


                                      THEY

           2. Often used in reference to a singular noun made
           universal by every, any, no, etc., or applicable to one of
           either sex (= `he or she').  See Jespersen Progress in
           Lang. 24.

           1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 163 b, Yf..a psalm scape
           ony persone, or a lesson, or else yt they omyt one verse or
           twayne.

           1535 FISHER Ways perf. Relig. ix. Wks. (1876) 383 He neuer
           forsaketh any creature vnlesse they before haue forsaken
           them selues.

           1749 FIELDING Tom Jones VIII. xi, Every Body fell a
           laughing, as how could they help it.

           1759 CHESTERF. Lett. IV. ccclv. 170 If a person is born of
           a gloomy temper..they cannot help it.

           1835 WHEWELL in Life (1881) 173 Nobody can deprive us of
           the Church if they would.

           1858 BAGEHOT Lit.Stud. (1879) II. 206 Nobody fancies for a
           moment that they are reading about anything beyond the pale
           of ordinary propriety.

           1866 RUSKIN Crown Wild Olives 38 (1873) 44 Now, nobody
           does anything well that they cannot help doing.


                                      THEM

           2. Often used for `him or her', referring to a singular
           person whose sex is not stated, or to anybody, nobody,
           somebody, whoever, etc.

           1742 RICHARDSON Pamela III. 127 Little did I think..to make
           a..complaint against a Person very dear to you,..but dont
           let them be so proud..as to make them not care how they
           affront everybody else.

           1853 Miss YONGE Heir of Redclyffe xliv, Nobody else..has so
           little to plague them.

           1874 DASENT Half a life II. 198 Whenever anyone was ill,
           she brewed them a drink.


                                   THEMSELVES

           5. In concord with a singular pronoun or sb. denoting a
           person, in cases where the meaning implies more than one,
           as when the sb. is qualified by a distributive, or refers
           to either sex: = himself or herself.
           

                                                                     4


           1464 Rolls of Parlt. V. 513/2 Inheritements, of which any
           of the seid persones..was seised by theym self, or joyntly
           with other.

           1489 CAXTON Sonnes of Aymon i. 39 Eche of theym..make
           theymselfe redy.

           1533 MORE Apol. 55b, Neyther Tyndale there nor thys precher
           ..hath by theyr maner of expounyng..wonne them self mych
           wurshyp.

           1600 SHAKS. Lucr. 125 Eury one to rest themselues [ed. 1594
           himselfe] betake.

           1654-66 EARL ORRERY Parthen. (1676) 147 All that happened,
           which every one assured themselves, would render him a
           large sharer in the general joy.

           1874 DASENT Half a life 3 Every one likes to keep it to
           themselves as long as they can.


                                     THEIR

           3. Often used in relation to a singular sb. or pronoun
           denoting a person, after each, every, either, neither, no
           one, every one, etc. Also so used instead of `his or her',
           when the gender is inclusive or uncertain. (Not favoured by
           grammarians.)

           13.. Cursor M. 389 (Cott.) Bath ware made sun and mon,
           Aither wit ther ouen light.

           1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) 1, Iche mon in thayre degre.

           14.. Arth. & Merl. 2440 (Kolbing) Many a Sarazen lost their
           life.

           1545 ABP. PARKER Let. to Bp. Gardiner 8 May, Thus was it
           agreed among us that every president should assemble their
           companies.

           1563 WYNGET Four Scoir Thre Quest. liv, A man or woman
           being lang absent fra thair party.

           1643 TRAPP Comm. Gen. xxiv. 22 Each Countrey bath their
           fashions, and garnishes.

           1749 FIELDING Tom Jones VII, xiv, Every one in the House
           were in their beds.

           1771 GOLDSM. Hist. Eng III. 241 Every person..now recovered
           their liberty.

           1845 SYD. SMITH Wks. (1850) 175 Every human being must do
           something with their existence.
           

                                                                     5


           1848 THAKERAY Van. Fair xli, A person can't help their
           birth.

           1858 BAGEHOT Lit. Studies (1879) II. 206 Nobody in their
           senses would describe Gray's `Elegy' as [etc.].

           1898 G.B SHAW Plays II Candida 86 It's enough to drive
           anyone out of their senses.