American Standard English Language Essay

American Standard English should adopt they as a third person epicene pronoun, also coined a gender neutral, gender-fair, or common-gender pronoun (Adami 281, Baranoski 379). Generic he has persisted since the 1850 Act of Parliament that declared it so, but is he truly generic (Zuber and Reed 519)? The use of he is sexist, excluding females and people who do not fall neatly within the male-female gender binary (Strahan 17). English also lacks a third person pronoun for instances when a person’s gender is unknown. To combat this void, speakers use they, a plural pronoun which is grammatically incorrect when referring to a singular antecedent, making the usage non-standard. There are ways to avoid gendered pronouns and many people have suggested …show more content…
LaScotte conducted a survey for native English speakers to examine which pronouns participants used for the antecedent student. In the language, there are methods to avoid gender and awkward paired pronouns, including the use of one and oneself, repetition of the antecedent, use of second person pronouns, and pluralization of the antecedent (See Appendix 2). First, the participant wrote an opinion on a great student, which would reveal the person’s true usage of a particular pronoun and consistency. The remainder of the survey asked which pronouns sound best in formal and informal contexts, and they won, especially for informal situations. Opposition included the opinions that he is used for males and females, she is exclusive to males, and paired pronouns are cumbersome. Although several participants stated they is ungrammatical in formal language because it is plural, many reiterated its gender inclusion for women and non-binary people. Additionally, singular they is an important component of tag questions. In a sentence containing an indefinite pronoun like anyone or everyone, they is preferential to he (521). For example, the second sentence may sound awkward to most speakers, especially in informal