English neutral pronouns: Difference between revisions

'''English neutral pronouns''' are an ongoing problem. This is best known not only as a matter of concern when writing documents that need to use inclusive language, but also for any [[nonbinary]] people who prefer not to have their pronouns imply that they are female or male. As shown in surveys, many nonbinary people are okay with being called "he" or "she," but there are also many nonbinary people who don't want to be called either of these. The surveys show that the most popular gender-neutral pronoun for nonbinary people is [[singular they]], but nearly as many prefer or accept some other neutral pronoun. See examples of this in [[Pronouns#Examples_of_specific_nonbinary_people.27s_pronouns|pronouns in use for nonbinary people]].

In English, people are usually called by a [[pronouns|pronoun]] that implies their gender. For example, [[English neutral pronouns#She|she]] for women, and [[English neutral pronouns#He|he]] for men. The use of [[singular they]] as a gender-neutral pronoun has been documented as standard usage in English throughout the past thousand years. However, prescriptive grammarians in the late eighteenth century decided that it was bad grammar because it works like a plural and because it isn't done in Latin.<ref>Henry Churchyard, "Singular 'Their' in Jane Austen and Elsewhere." [http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html]</ref>