Using Their, Them, Themselves, and They as Singular Pronouns
Many writers pause at the keyboard, cursor blinking, when faced with a singular antecedent whose gender is unknown or irrelevant.
Traditional grammar once insisted on “he or she,” but that construction feels clunky and exclusionary; singular they offers a graceful alternative that has centuries of precedent.
Historic Roots of Singular They
Chaucer used singular they in The Canterbury Tales as early as 1390.
Shakespeare followed suit, writing “And every one to rest themselves betake” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary list over four hundred years of citations, proving the usage never vanished.
Shift in 18th-Century Prescriptivism
Grammarians such as Lindley Murray tried to outlaw the form in 1795, deeming it illogical.
Their proscriptions spread through Victorian classrooms, yet novelists from Austen to Dickens continued to slip singular they into dialogue.
Academic gatekeepers lost ground each decade as spoken English preserved the pronoun.
Current Style Guide Consensus
The Associated Press green-lit singular they in 2017 when referring to sources who identify as nonbinary.
APA Publication Manual 7th edition advises using they/them for any person whose pronouns are stated as such.
Even the conservative Chicago Manual of Style concedes that singular they is “now widely accepted,” citing clarity and respect.
Corporate and Legal Adoption
Apple’s style guide instructs technical writers to default to they for hypothetical users.
Recent Supreme Court opinions in Bostock v. Clayton County used singular they throughout the syllabus when discussing any employee.
These institutional endorsements trickle down into everyday workplace emails and HR forms.
Grammar Mechanics Explained
Singular they still pairs with plural verbs: “They are on their way,” never “They is.”
Possessive their follows suit: “Each student submitted their lab report.”
Reflexive themselves appears unchanged: “Someone lost themselves in thought.”
Subject–Verb Agreement Deep Dive
The verb agreement reflects notional number rather than syntactic number; the speaker treats the referent as singular in meaning but plural in form.
This quirk mirrors how “you” functions, once plural, now indifferent to count.
Editors can sidestep awkwardness by rephrasing if the clash jars rhythm, though readers rarely stumble.
Writing Scenarios with Clear Examples
Email: “When a customer calls, ask if they need a receipt.”
Legal brief: “If any plaintiff declines mediation, they may proceed to trial.”
Software prompt: “The user hasn’t saved their changes.”
Academic Citation
In-text citation for a nonbinary author: “Taylor (2023) argues they observed the same trend.”
Reference list entry remains unaffected: Taylor, J. (2023). Fluid Data.
Database systems already parse they/them seamlessly in metadata fields.
Addressing Common Objections
“It’s grammatically plural!” critics claim.
Yet the same objection once greeted singular you, now unquestioned.
Language evolves through use, not decree.
Clarity Concerns
Context almost always resolves ambiguity; if “they” could refer to multiple people, rewrite: “The candidate said they could start Monday.”
Adding a name or role sharpens the antecedent without abandoning the pronoun.
Experienced copy editors wield this tactic daily.
SEO and Accessibility Benefits
Search engines parse gender-neutral language more easily across diverse queries.
Screen readers pronounce they/them smoothly, avoiding awkward pauses caused by slashes or parentheses.
Alt-text examples: “A programmer tests their code on multiple devices.”
International Audience Reach
Non-native speakers learn one pronoun set instead of memorizing “he/she.”
Translation APIs reduce string count, lowering localization costs.
Global brands like Spotify leverage singular they in UI strings to simplify rollout across 178 markets.
Workflow Integration for Editors
Add a dedicated line to house style sheets: “Use singular they for unknown or nonbinary referents.”
Configure Grammarly or LanguageTool to flag “he or she” suggestions as errors.
Build a find-and-replace macro in Microsoft Word to swap outdated phrasing automatically.
Onboarding Freelancers
Include a mini-lesson in contractor packets with two sample paragraphs, one pre-edit, one post-edit.
Link to the APA blog entry on nonbinary inclusivity for quick reference.
Require acknowledgment to ensure consistency across remote teams.
Marketing Copy Case Studies
Airbnb rewrote host guidelines to read “If a guest extends their stay, they must use the app.”
A/B tests showed a 4.7% uptick in comprehension among non-native English users.
Customer support tickets citing pronoun confusion dropped by 18% within a quarter.
Product Interface Microcopy
Slack’s onboarding bot greets: “Tell us what you’d like to call yourself, and we’ll use it when we talk to you.”
Behind the scenes, code variables interpolate {display_name} and {their} without gender branches.
Developers report lighter conditional logic and fewer bugs.
Training Teams Quickly
Run a 15-minute lunch-and-learn with a slide titled “Three sentences, three fixes.”
Example 1: “Each employee must bring his ID.” → “Each employee must bring their ID.”
Example 2: “Someone left his or her laptop.” → “Someone left their laptop.”
Interactive Exercise
Hand out printed memos riddled with outdated pronouns; teams race to red-pen corrections.
Discuss aloud why each change improves clarity and inclusivity.
Reward the fastest accurate group with coffee vouchers—positive reinforcement cements habits faster than lectures.
Advanced Punctuation and Syntax
Avoid hybrid slashes like “s/he” or “(s)he”; they clutter the line and confuse screen readers.
Parenthetical plurals—“teacher(s)”—likewise feel clunky next to singular they.
Opt for rephrasing: “Teachers must submit their forms.”
Ellipsis and Em-Dash Handling
When trailing off after they, keep the verb plural: “If anyone thinks they can… well, they’re welcome to try.”
Em-dash interruptions follow the same rule: “The winner—they know who they are—should step forward.”
Consistency prevents jarring shifts in rhythm.
Ethical Considerations
Respecting stated pronouns is not a style whim; it is a workplace equity issue.
Deadnaming or misgendering in prose can expose marginalized individuals to harm.
Editors shoulder responsibility to verify pronouns during fact-checking just as rigorously as dates and titles.
Source Verification Protocol
Query interview subjects via a brief form: “What pronouns should we use in publication?”
Store the answer in a shared spreadsheet labeled Pronoun Ledger, locked to prevent accidental edits.
Update bios annually; identities evolve, and yesterday’s guidance may no longer fit.
Future Trajectory
Linguists predict reflexive themself may gain standard status within a decade.
Corpus data from COCA shows a 300% rise since 2010.
Early adopters in tech journalism already deploy it smoothly: “A developer taught themself Rust over the weekend.”
AI Language Model Training
Large-scale models now ingest singular they in training data without explicit tags.
Output accuracy improves when prompts include sample sentences up front.
Prompt engineering tip: seed the context with “Use singular they for unknown gender” before generating content.