My Theory on Stars Chops

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There is one of each.

(A) 1 is either retarded or doesn't speak english
(B) 1 is willing to agree with anything
(C) 1 is happy with his or her numbers
(D) 1 wants to round his or her number up to an even amount

Stars support stars tourney back up

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2 types of posters on 2p2...

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Three types LDO

Those who can use correct grammar and those who can't

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From then on [the 1300's], "singular their" was used without much inhibition (see the examples from the OED) and was not generally considered "bad grammar". It is true that starting in the 16th century, when English grammar began to be a subject of study, some rules of Latin grammar were applied to English; and that the Latin-based rules of grammatical agreement might have been seen as forbidding the English singular "their" construction -- if they were interpreted in a certain linguistically naïve way. (This may explain why certain classical-language-influenced authors, such as the translators of the King James Bible, tended to use singular "their" somewhat infrequently -- but see Phillipians 2:3.) However, the earliest specific condemnation of singular "their" that Bodine was able to find (in her 1975 article) dated only from 1795 (more than two centuries after English grammar started being taught, and at least several decades after the beginning of the 18th century "grammar boom").

So it seems that it was only in the late 18th century or early 19th century, when prescriptive grammarians started attacking singular "their" because this didn't seem to them to accord with the "logic" of the Latin language, that it began to be more or less widely taught that the construction was bad grammar. The prohibition against singular "their" then joined the other arbitrary prescriptions created from naïve analogies between English and Latin -- such as the prohibition against ending a sentence with a preposition.

But through the 19th and 20th centuries, singular "their" has still continued to be used by a number of even somewhat "literary" authors, as well as commonly in the speech of even many educated individuals.

Full text of the above quotation provided for the mistaken grammar nazis

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Um... well, the fact that Jane Austen used the singular "their" does not make it correct.

I do have some sympathy for the argument that using "he or she" all the time is cumbersome and that using "their" is cleaner. But "their" is clearly a plural descriptor and it's a little silly to argue that it's "correct" when used as a singular.

Signed,

Self-confessed Grammar Nazi

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Did you read the analysis? I thought the discussion was illuminating, not that Jane Austen had done it.

It may be "silly" as you say, but I'm not in agreement that it is grammatically incorrect to use their in that context. How about this from the compact oxford english dictionary,:

their

• possessive determiner 1 belonging to or associated with the people or things previously mentioned or easily identified. 2 belonging to or associated with <font color="red"> a person </font> of unspecified sex (used in place of either ‘his’ or ‘his or her’). 3 (Their) used in titles.

[BAK]

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There is one of each.

(A) 1 is either retarded or doesn't speak english
(B) 1 is willing to agree with anything
(C) 1 is happy with his or her numbers
(D) 1 wants to round his or her number up to an even amount

Stars support stars tourney back up

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2 types of posters on 2p2...

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Three types LDO

Those who can use correct grammar and those who can't

[/ QUOTE ]

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From then on [the 1300's], "singular their" was used without much inhibition (see the examples from the OED) and was not generally considered "bad grammar". It is true that starting in the 16th century, when English grammar began to be a subject of study, some rules of Latin grammar were applied to English; and that the Latin-based rules of grammatical agreement might have been seen as forbidding the English singular "their" construction -- if they were interpreted in a certain linguistically naïve way. (This may explain why certain classical-language-influenced authors, such as the translators of the King James Bible, tended to use singular "their" somewhat infrequently -- but see Phillipians 2:3.) However, the earliest specific condemnation of singular "their" that Bodine was able to find (in her 1975 article) dated only from 1795 (more than two centuries after English grammar started being taught, and at least several decades after the beginning of the 18th century "grammar boom").

So it seems that it was only in the late 18th century or early 19th century, when prescriptive grammarians started attacking singular "their" because this didn't seem to them to accord with the "logic" of the Latin language, that it began to be more or less widely taught that the construction was bad grammar. The prohibition against singular "their" then joined the other arbitrary prescriptions created from naïve analogies between English and Latin -- such as the prohibition against ending a sentence with a preposition.

But through the 19th and 20th centuries, singular "their" has still continued to be used by a number of even somewhat "literary" authors, as well as commonly in the speech of even many educated individuals.

Full text of the above quotation provided for the mistaken grammar nazis

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Um... well, the fact that Jane Austen used the singular "their" does not make it correct.

I do have some sympathy for the argument that using "he or she" all the time is cumbersome and that using "their" is cleaner. But "their" is clearly a plural descriptor and it's a little silly to argue that it's "correct" when used as a singular.

Signed,

Self-confessed Grammar Nazi

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Did you read the analysis? I thought the discussion was illuminating, not that Jane Austen had done it.

It may be "silly" as you say, but I'm not in agreement that it is grammatically incorrect to use their in that context. How about this from the compact oxford english dictionary,:

their

• possessive determiner 1 belonging to or associated with the people or things previously mentioned or easily identified. 2 belonging to or associated with <font color="red"> a person </font> of unspecified sex (used in place of either ‘his’ or ‘his or her’). 3 (Their) used in titles.

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Even if it is still considered incorrect in formal written English (and clearly that is in hot debate), it is certainly correct in spoken and colloquial English.

I don't think you can get more colloquial than this forum.