Helpful Hint
HE OR SHE, HIM OR HER, THEY
Have you ever wondered what pronoun to insert in a sentence such as: If a person smokes, (he? she?) stands a good chance of ending up with lung cancer.
One of the trickiest aspects of English is knowing what to do in such situations because we do not seem to have suitable singular gender-less (i.e., generic) pronouns to use instead of he or she and him or her... so what do we do?
Many people use they as a generic term: If a person smokes, they stand a good chance of ending up with lung cancer. While providing a useful solution, that approach irritates a lot of people because person is singular and they is plural; grammatically, there is an inconsistency.
Many people rewrite such sentences to avoid the issue: A person who smokes stands a good chance of ending up with lung cancer OR If people smoke, they stand a good chance of ending up with lung cancer.
Some people are experimenting with forms such as s/he: If a person smokes, s/he stands a good chance of ending up with lung cancer. That works in writing but unfortunately not when speaking! In recent times, particularly within the LGBTQI community, forms such as ze have been adopted, instead of he or she – maybe a logical development from s/he.
Perhaps the easiest of the terms being tried is per (from person). The term per works as both subject (instead of he/she) and object (instead of him/her) and possessive and reflexive pronouns are easily formed: pers and perself.
There actually is a generic pronoun that works in many situations, but because it is not used very much nowadays, it can sound affected (‘put on’), which would not be the case if we all used it, of course: If one smokes, one stands a good chance of ending up with lung cancer.
English is a powerful language, but it does lack genderless pronouns. Which solutions seem best to you?