Username
figs
Member Since
May 11, 2011
Total number of comments
2
Total number of votes received
5
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Latest Comments
Everybody vs. Everyone
- May 11, 2011, 7:04pm
Cecilia,
As someone mentioned earlier, using 'their' with singular nouns has been a part of English for hundreds of years. It may not sound as formal as some other options, but at this point it's definitely part of the language.
Of course it's a result of English not having a neuter singular third-person pronoun. Saying 'his or her' instead of 'their' is cumbersome and formal sounding, at least to me.
For example: 'Everyone did his or homework.' That doesn't sound very good to me. I see nothing wrong with using 'their' in that situation.
The Term “Foreigner”
'non-citizen' sounds pretty negative to me. Sounds worse than foreigner in a way to my ears.
Thanks for all the thoughts everyone... this is interesting.