單數they

單數they是they或它的詞形變化形式的用法，用於指單獨一個人，作為單數形式。典型地，這種情況出現於不確定的性別，例句：類似地，這種情況也可以應用於派生詞，例如themself或themselves。這種用法的一個原因是英語沒有專用於不確定性別的單數人稱代詞。有些情況，這種用法可以被解釋為一種名義約定，因為如everyone之類的單詞，雖然在語法上是單數形式，但事實上卻是複數的意義。這種用法逐漸變多的一個原因可能是20世紀的性別包容語言運動，但是它已經被有影響力的作家使用了好幾個世紀。雖然單數they的用法歷史悠久，並且在日常英語中廣泛使用，但是這種用法從19世紀末開始還是一直受到批評，並且大家的認可度也不同。詞形變化形式與物主代詞.單數they與“正常”的複數they有相同的詞形變化形式，即them和their。它們通常都使用相同的動詞形式，也就是說“when I tell someone a joke "they" laughs”是不規範的。反身代詞themselves有時也被使用，但是還有一個可選的反身代詞形式themself。雖然themself有歷史悠久並且在20世紀80年代復活了，但是它還是依然較少使用，並且只被少數人認可。 它在指代性別不明的單個人的時候有時使用，因為這時候複數形式themselves看起來不協調，例如單數themself在加拿大聯邦法律文字中被系統化地使用，用於區別於複數themselves。用法.知名作家的一些老舊用法.早在14世紀的中古英語，they就一直被用於單數形式。 在許多知名作家的著作中都能看來這種用法，包括傑弗裡·喬叟、威廉·莎士比亞、簡·奧斯丁、威廉·梅克比斯·薩克雷和蕭伯納："They" wol come up . . ."—Chaucer, "The Pardoner's Prologue" (c. 1395); 引用自Jespersen在《Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage》。Cleopatra: "But "they" do get killed"—Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1901);引用自《Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage》。同時，除了使用they，使用代詞he作為性別中性代詞也被認可，如下所述：在威廉·梅克比斯·薩克雷的著作中，兩個都出現過：與並且威廉·卡克斯頓寫道：alongside19世紀的性別通用he的趨勢.在非正式英語中使用he而非they的用法的倡導，可以在18世紀中葉找到，在的《A New Grammar》中寫道：性別通用名使用陽性，可以理解為男性與女性，正如"any Person who knows what he says" (引自Ostade)1895年的語法標記了單數they的通用的用法，但是推薦用性別通用he，基於數協議：指代前面出現過的泛指代詞[例如everybody]或者被泛指形容詞修飾的名詞的另一種方法，是在後面使用複數代詞。這並不是最好的用法，邏輯上顯然需要使用單數代詞，但是這種結構經常出現於"前面說的包括或隱射兩個性別"。陽性詞並不能表示陰性，並且應該避免 his or her 的表示法，因為很笨重.Baskervill給出了知名作家的使用單數they的一些例子，包括但是他更喜歡使用he：[. . .] 當前面說的包括男性與女性的時候，或者是一個泛指性的單詞的時候，最好的方法是後續代詞使用陽性單數代詞 [. . .]—Baskervill, An English Grammar1850年，英國議會通過了一個法案，其中說了，在議會的法案中使用的時候“陽性詞必須被視為包括女性”。據稱的性別中性的he的用法直到至少20世紀60年代還能用，雖然有一些he的用法後來因笨拙或愚蠢而被批評，例如指代：據稱的性別中性的he的當代用法.當代著作在指代性別通用或不確定的前面出現的詞的時候，有時還是可以看到使用he。有時指代的人幾乎可以確定為男的，例如有時前面出現的詞指代的人"很可能"只是男的或者這種職業傳統上只有男性人員：還有其它情況，前面的詞可能指代：甚至在2010年，還是可以發現性別通用he的建議：" . . . 當不定代詞在前面使用時，需要一個"單數"的主格、賓格與物主代詞 . . ."* ""Everyone" did as "he" pleased" . . ."在非正式口語中，複數代詞經常被用於當前面的詞不確定的時候。但是這種結構現在一般不合適用於正式發言或者書面上。非正式： "Somebody" should let you borrow "their" book.正式： "Somebody" should let you borrow "his" book."—Choy, Basic Grammar and Usage20世紀開始趨於使用性別中性語言.在20世紀的下半個世紀，女權主義者關注“性別歧視主義”的男性導向式語言。不但包括man性別通用，而且包括he作為性別通用代詞。爭論點是he不能明智地作為性別通用代詞，包括男人與女人。William Safire在他的《紐約時報》的 On Language 專欄上贊同了性別通用he，提及口訣“男性包羅女性”。Brooklyn的C. Adendyck對《紐約時報》寫了一個回覆："The average American needs the small routines of getting ready for work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his panty-hose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the day."1980年，運動受到廣泛支援，許多組織，包括絕大多數出版社，都發行了性別中性語言的使用指南。用於特定的知名人士.在一些情況，可能知道個體但卻用they來指代，因為性別未知或者因為他/她偏愛使用they，例如社會媒體應用，可能允許賬號持有者來選擇非常規性別例如性別酷兒或雙性別和一個代詞，包括他們可能願意使用的they/them。當代用法.自從20世紀60年代以來，在書面語和口語中使用陽性通用名詞和代詞的頻率就在一減少。20世紀90年代在澳大利亞收集的自發講話語料庫中，單數"they"變最頻繁使用的通用代詞。單數"they"的使用上升的原因，至少是部分原因，是性別中性語言的使用的增長。一百年前的作者用"he"作為不確定性別的指代時可能沒有顧慮，但是如今的作者經常會感覺這麼用不自在。在正式場合的一種方案通常是寫"he or she"或者其它類似的，但是過度使用這種方式感覺很彆扭，或者感覺很政治正確，或者都有。當代用法中，單數"they"常被用於指定性別不確定的先行詞，至少有一些人這麼用，例如當先行詞的性別或數量不確定、未知或未揭露的時候。例子包括不同型別的用法。用作指代代詞先行詞.單數先行詞可以是一個代詞，例如everybody、someone、anybody或者疑問代詞例如who：用作指代通用名詞先行詞.單數先行詞也可以是一個名詞，例如"person"：有些人比其他人有更大的被接受度，在某些情況下嘗試用單數代詞來替換"they"會得到荒唐的結果，可以用上面的例子驗證。可接受性和​​規範性指導.雖然性別通用"he"和性別通用"they"作為單數代詞使用有很長的一段歷史了，並且它們至今都依然還在使用中，但是它們還是一直被部分人群系統化地避免使用。防止表述偏袒任何一方的風格指引有時建議把這些通用的表達重新表述為複數形式來避免被任何一方指責。單數"they"的使用在英國英語中比在美國英語中更加被廣泛接受 or vice versa.一性用法指引我們接受被建議"they"的單數用法並不是僅僅是用於語義複數的單數詞例如everyone，而且也用於前面指代的不確定的“個人”，這些用法的例子甚至常出現在正式演講中。例如，Casey Miller和Kate Swift，在《無性別歧視寫作手冊》， Ronald Reagan引用：美國使用指南.已隱藏部分未翻譯內容，歡迎參與[ 翻譯]。Garner's Modern American Usage (2003)推薦小心使用單數"they"，並且儘可能避免使用，因為這麼用有點彆扭。Garner認為單數"they"的使用在英國英語中的接受度更大一些：並且美國英語使用者顯然抵制這種變化:他將使用單數they和everyone，anyone和somebody等先行詞的趨勢視為不可避免的:In the 14th edition (1993) of The Chicago Manual of Style, the University of Chicago Press explicitly recommended use of singular use of "they" and "their", noting a "revival" of this usage and citing "its venerable use by such writers as Addison, Austen, Chesterfield, Fielding, Ruskin, Scott, and Shakespeare."From the 15th edition, this was changed. In Chapter 5 of the 16th edition, now written by Bryan A. Garner, the recommendations are:"The singular "they". A singular antecedent requires a singular referent pronoun. Because "he" is no longer accepted as a generic pronoun referring to a person of either sex, it has become common in speech and in informal writing to substitute the third-person plural pronouns "they", "them", "their", and "themselves", and the nonstandard singular "themself". While this usage is accepted in casual context, it is still considered ungrammatical in formal writing."and"Gender bias. . . . On the one hand, it is unacceptable to a great many reasonable readers to use the generic masculine pronoun ("he" in reference to no one in particular). On the other hand, it is unacceptable to a great many readers (often different readers) either to resort to non-traditional gimmicks to avoid the generic masculine (by using "he/she" of "s/he", for example) or to use "they" as a kind of singular pronoun. Either way, credibility is lost with some readers."According to The American Heritage Book of English Usage, many Americans avoid use of "they" to refer to a singular antecedent out of respect for a "traditional" grammatical rule, despite use of singular "they" by modern writers of note and mainstream publications:*"Most of the Usage Panel rejects the use of "they" with singular antecedents as ungrammatical, even in informal speech. Eighty-two percent find the sentence "The typical student in the program takes about six years to complete their course work" unacceptable. . . . panel members seem to make a distinction between singular nouns, such as "the typical student" and "a person", and pronouns that are grammatically singular but semantically plural, such as "anyone", "everyone" and "no one". Sixty-four percent of panel members accept the sentence "No one is willing to work for those wages anymore, are they?""The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association explicitly reject the use of singular "they" and gives the following example as "incorrect" usage:while also specifically taking a stand that generic "he" is unacceptable. The APA recommends using "he or she", recasting the sentence with a plural subject to allow correct use of "they", or simply rewriting the sentence to avoid issues with gender or number.Strunk &amp; White, the authors of The Elements of Style find use of "they" with a singular antecedent unacceptable:"They. Not to be used when the antecedent is a distributive expression, such as "each", "each one". "everybody", "every one", "many a man". Use the singular pronoun. [. . . ] A similar fault is the use of the plural pronoun with the antecedent "anybody", "anyone", "somebody", "someone" [. . . ] The use of "he" as pronoun for nouns embracing both genders is a simple, practical convention rooted in the beginnings of the English language. "Their assessment, in 1979, was""He" has lost all suggestion of maleness in these circumstances. [. . .] It has no pejorative connotation; it is never incorrect."Joseph M. Williams, who wrote a number of books on writing with "", discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various solutions when faced with the problem of referring to an antecedent such as "someone", "everyone", "no one" or a noun that does not indicate gender and suggests that this will continue to be a problem for some time. He "suspect[s] that eventually we will accept the plural "they" as a correct singular" but states that currently "formal usage requires a singular pronoun".According to The Little, Brown Handbook, most experts—and some teachers and employers—find use of singular "they" unacceptable:"Although some experts accept "they", "them", and "their" with singular indefinite words, most do not, and many teachers and employers regard the plural as incorrect. To be safe, work for agreement between singular indefinite words and the pronouns that refer to them [. . . ]"It recommends using "he or she" or avoiding the problem by rewriting the sentence to use a plural or omit the pronoun.The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) maintains that singular "they" is incorrect:"Remember: the words "everybody", "anybody", "anyone", "each", "neither", "nobody", "someone", "a person", etc. are singular and take singular pronouns."英國使用指南.已隱藏部分未翻譯內容，歡迎參與[ 翻譯]。In the first edition of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (published in 1926) it is stated that singular "they" is disapproved of by grammarians and should be avoided in favour of the generic "he". Examples of its use by eminent writers are given, but it is suggested that "few good modern writers would flout [grammarians] so conspicuously as Fielding and Thackeray", whose sentences are described as having an "old-fashioned sound".In the second edition of Fowler's, Fowler's Modern English Usage (edited by Sir Ernest Gowers and published in 1965), it is stated that singular "they" is disapproved of by grammarians and, while common in colloquial speech, should preferably be avoided in favour of the generic "he" in prose. Numerous examples of its use by eminent writers are given, but it is still suggested that "few good modern writers would flout [grammarians] so conspicuously as Fielding and Thackeray".According to the third edition of Fowler's (The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, edited by Burchfield and published in 1996) singular "they" has not only been widely used by good writers for centuries, but is now generally accepted, except by some conservative grammarians, including the Fowler of 1926, who ignored the evidence:"Over the centuries, writers of standing have used "they", "their", and "them" with anaphoric reference to a singular noun or pronoun, and the practice has continued in the 20C. to the point that, traditional grammarians aside, such constructions are hardly noticed any more or are not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone. Fowler (1926) disliked the practice [. . .] and gave a number of unattributed 'faulty' examples [. . . ] The evidence presented in the "OED" points in another direction altogether."The Complete Plain Words was originally written in 1948 by Sir Ernest Gowers, a civil servant, in an attempt by the British civil service to improve "official English". A second edition, edited by Sir Bruce Fraser, was published in 1973. It refers to "they" or "them" as the "equivalent of a singular pronoun of common sex" as "common in speech and not unknown in serious writing " but "stigmatized by grammarians as usage grammatically indefensible. The books advice for "official writers" (civil servants) is to avoid its use and not to be tempted by its "greater convenience", though "necessity may eventually force it into the category of accepted idiom".A new edition of Plain Words, revised and updated by Sir Ernest Gowers' great granddaughter, Rebecca Gowers, was published in 2014.It notes that singular "they" and "them" have become much more widespread since Gowers' original comments, but still finds it "safer" to treat a sentence like 'The reader may toss their book aside' as incorrect "in formal English", while rejecting even more strongly sentences likeThe Times Style and Usage Guide (first published in 2003 by "The Times" of London) recommends avoiding sentences likeby using a plural construction:"The Cambridge Guide to English Usage" (2004) finds singular "they" "unremarkable":"For those listening or reading, it has become unremarkable—an element of common usage.It expresses several preferences.The Economist Style Guide refers to the use of "they" in sentences likeas "scrambled syntax that people adopt because they cannot bring themselves to use a singular pronoun".The New Hart's Rules is aimed at those engaged in copy editing, and the emphasis is on the formal elements of presentation including punctuation and typeface, rather than on linguistic style but—like "The Chicago Manual of Style"—makes occasional forays into matters of usage.It advises against use of the purportedly gender-neutral "he", and suggests cautious use of "they" where "he or she" presents problems.". . . it is now regarded. . . as old-fashioned or sexist to use "he" in reference to a person of unspecified sex, as in "every child needs to know that he is loved." The alternative "he or she" is often preferred, and in formal contexts probably the best solution, but can become tiresome or long-winded when used frequently. Use of "they" in this sense ("everyone needs to feel that they matter") is becoming generally accepted both in speech and in writing, especially where it occurs after an indefinite pronoun such as "everyone" or "someone", but should not be imposed by an editor if an author has used "he or she" consistently."The 2011 edition of the New International Version Bible uses singular "the"y instead of the traditional "he" when translating pronouns that apply to both genders in the original Greek or Hebrew. This decision was based on research by a commission that studied modern English usage and determined that singular "they" ("them"/"their") was by far the most common way that English-language speakers and writers today refer back to singular antecedents such as "whoever", "anyone", "somebody", "a person", "no one", and the like."澳大利亞使用指南.已隱藏部分未翻譯內容，歡迎參與[ 翻譯]。The Australian Federation Press Style Guide for use in preparation of book manuscripts recommends "Gender-neutral language should be used", stating that use of "they" and "their" as singular pronouns is acceptable.英語語法使用指南.已隱藏部分未翻譯內容，歡迎參與[ 翻譯]。According to A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985):"The pronoun "they" is commonly used as a 3rd person singular pronoun that is neutral between masculine and feminine. . . . At one time restricted to informal usage. it is now increasingly accepted in formal usage, especially in [American English].The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language discusses the prescriptivist argument that "they" is a plural pronoun and that the use of "they" with a singular "antecedent" therefore violates the rule of agreement between antecedent and pronoun, but takes the view that "they", though "primarily" plural, can also be singular in a secondary "extended" sense, comparable to the purportedly extended sense of "he" to include female gender.Use of singular "they" is stated to be "particularly common", even "stylistically neutral" with antecedents such as "everyone", "someone", and "no one", but more restricted when referring to common nouns as antecedents, as inUse of the pronoun "themself" is described as being "rare" and "acceptable only to a minority of speakers", while use of the morphologically plural "themselves" is considered problematic when referring to "someone" rather that "everyone" (since only the latter implies a plural set).There are also issues of grammatical acceptability when reflexive pronouns refer to singular noun phrases joined by "or", the following all being problematic:On the motivation for using singular "they", A Student's Introduction to English Grammar states"this avoidance of "he" can't be dismissed just as a matter of political correctness. The real problem with using "he" is that it unquestionably colours the interpretation, sometimes inappropriately. . . "he" doesn't have a genuinely sex-neutral sense".The alternative "he or she" can be "far too cumbersome", as inor even " flatly ungrammatical", as in"Among younger speakers", use of singular "they" even with definite noun-phrase antecedents finds increasing acceptance, "sidestepping any presumption about the sex of the person referred to", as in語法和邏輯分析.已隱藏部分未翻譯內容，歡迎參與[ 翻譯]。Steven Pinker suggests that "singular" "they" and plural "they" can be regarded as a pair of homonyms — two words with different meanings but the same spelling and sound. However, this analysis is not extended to "you", another originally plural pronoun that has come to have singular use.分佈.已隱藏部分未翻譯內容，歡迎參與[ 翻譯]。Distributive constructions apply a "single" idea to "multiple" members of a group.They are typically marked in English by words like "each", "every" and "any". The simplest examples are applied to groups of two, and use words like "either" and "or"—"Would you like tea or coffee?". Since distributive constructions apply an idea relevant to each individual in the group, rather than to the group as a whole, they are most often conceived of as singular, and a singular pronoun is used.However, many languages, including English, show ambivalence in this regard. Because distribution also requires a group with more than one member, plural forms are sometimes used.引用和非引用照應語.已隱藏部分未翻譯內容，歡迎參與[ 翻譯]。According to the traditional analysis, English personal pronouns (e.g. "his", "her", "their") are typically used to refer backward (or forward) within a sentence to a noun phrase (which may be a simple noun). This reference is called an "anaphoric" reference, and the referring pronoun is termed an "anaphor".The so-called singular "they" is morphologically plural, and is accompanied by a plural verb. However, it is often used in circumstances where an indeterminate antecedent is signified by an indefinite singular antecedent; for example,In some sentences, typically those including words like "every" or "any", the morphologically singular antecedent does not refer to a single entity but is "anaphorically linked" to the associated pronoun to indicate a set of pairwise relationships, as in the sentence:One explanation given for the use of "they" to refer to a singular antecedent is "notional agreement", when the antecedent is seen as semantically plural, as in the Shaw quotationIn other words, in the Shaw quotation "no man" is syntactically singular, demonstrated by taking the singular form "goes"; however, it is semantically plural ("all" go [to kill] not to be killed), hence idiomatically requiring "they".Linguists like Pinker and Huddleston explain sentences like this (and others) in terms of bound variables, a term borrowed from logic. Pinker prefers the terms "quantifier" and "bound variable" to "antecedent" and " pronoun".The word "reference" is traditionally used in two different senses:With a morphologically singular antecedent, there are a number of possibilities, including the following:認知效率.複數代詞they用於指代單數先行詞的用法逐漸增多，一些研究嘗試斷定這種用法會不會讓理解變得更“困難”。此研究之一是，《性別中性搜尋：單數they是對性別通用he在認識上的一個高效替代嗎？》Foertsch與Gernsbacher著，他們發現“單數they是對性別通用he或she在認識上的一個高效替代，尤其是當先行詞沒有明確所指的時候”。與其它代詞的對比.代詞they的單數用法和複數用法可以與代詞you作比較。曾經you只能作為複數使用，對應的單數形式為thou。但是在大約1700年左右，you取代了thou，作為單數形式使用，並且動詞依然使用複數形式。原例子的源頭.quoted in "Reader' Digest", 1983, as an example of its awkwardness when referring to both sexes.