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simshane1234's avatar
simshane1234
3 years ago

Re: Pronoun tense feedback

I'm going to have to disagree, as someone who uses he/they pronouns. Using "he / she / it" conjugations for singular they is still wrong.

Using the he/she conjugations for they/them sounds completely unnatural. I've never heard anyone use he/she conjugations for me or any person who uses they/them pronouns. It would always be: "They eat their food." not "They eats their food." or "They are my friend," not "they is my friend." And I believe the goal of this thread is to find the bugs and make things sound as natural as possible.

Your reasoning makes no sense. It's not strictly a plural conjugation. Some singular pronouns also conjugate that way. The singular pronouns: "I" and "You" almost always conjugate the same way as "They." (There are exceptions, like "I am," and "I was" but those are outliers from the very irregular verb "to be")

"I have, you have, they have"

"I eat, you eat, they eat"

"You are, they are."

Plug in any verb, you'll see that almost every verb, the pronouns I, you, and they conjugate the same way!

Since we use singular “you” and "I" with the plural form of verbs, yet always keep the singular connotation, why not do the same with singular “they”? In most English verbs, "He / she / it" conjugations are the only ones that change the verb to add an -s ending, then "I / we / they / you" conjugations are not changed from the infinitive. It sounds unnatural and incorrect to use the "she / he / it" conjugation for the pronoun they, whether it's being used singularly or not.

Now when you use a name, you do conjugate it with the -s ending, since it's a name: "Lee has a friend -> They have a friend."

Upon my further internet research, most grammar associations, dictionaries, and non-binary people agree that the most natural sounding conjugation should be used. Here are some links:

3 Replies

  • RyckRainthrottl's avatar
    RyckRainthrottl
    3 years ago

    Ok, so what if there are two people in the group called they and then they go to the store together, are the two people now one they or multiple theys?  They went to the store with them or They and They went to the store.

  • frogcandles's avatar
    frogcandles
    Rising Vanguard
    3 years ago

    I think you are confusing yourself about what they/them pronouns are. You said it yourself in your question, they go to the store together so it would be "they went to the store". They can mean singular and plural, in this hypothetical case it means plural because there are two people - those two people just happen to use the same pronouns. 

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