Okay, I’m still on about using “they” as the object to a singular subject.
One of the books I just read for review is a fascinating dictionary of difficult words. Each word is defined using examples in plain terms. But again, many times the author insists on using a singular subject and a plural object.
Couldn’t we try to just reword things so there is no need for this horrible grammar error that makes the poor old lady cringe?
For instance, how about writing in the definition of the word naive as: without question a naïve person believes what is said.
Or an irreverent person makes fun of things most people take seriously.
Or Someone who does many tasking things in a row would be called indefatigable.
For the most part, it really isn’t hard to reword things so the sentence is grammatically correct, or at least as correctly as a human can get.
Any language is a changing thing, but English changes more than others, and I think it behooves us to try to make some effort to not change to become too confusing.
So that’s my rant. I promise to just review books next week.
Thanks for listening.
sarahsbookreflections 