everybody...their

[Mark A. Mandel]

Peter Farruggio <pfarr at UCLINK4.BERKELEY.EDU> writes:

>>>>>
I have noticed during the past 20-25 years that the
use of "Everybody (everyone, each, somebody, etc...) has THEIR own way of
doing things" has steadily been replacing  "Everybody (etc)....HIS  own
etc" even in "learned discourse"  I attribute this to the influence of the
women's movement in making America more aware and sensitive to sexism in
society in general and in the English language in particular.  I have tried
to use "his/her" (clumsy as it is) as a way to preserve subject-verb
agreement, and I notice some others use "her" as a sort of
overcompensation; but with each passing year I see "their" picking up more
momentum in all corners, even in Academia.  Has this been picked up on any
"official radar?"  Is it in any usage dictionaries yet?  Are there any
other grammar formalists out there who cringe like I do when they hear this?
<<<<<

It may be a matter of what you (each individual speaker) consider more
important in the circumstances. I want to avoid the implicit sexism of
epicene "he|him|his", I want to avoid the clumsiness of "he/she|...|...", I
want to maintain concord, and I want to preserve clarity. These are not all
compatible, so tradeoffs are necessary. In formal writing, which tends to
be more conservative, I will probably opt for either the epicene masculine
form ("everyone... his") or an explicit alternation ("... his/her" or the
longer and more conservative "his or her"), conserving concord at the cost
of either sexism or clumsiness. In casual speech or writing I am more
likely to opt for "their", avoiding clumsiness and sexism at the cost of
formal concord but without sacrificing clarity, since in a construction
like this the coreference is obvious.

And (sorry ;-)\ , but you walked right into this) are there any grammar
formalists out there who cringe as I do when they hear "who cringe LIKE I
do"?

-- Mark