At peace with Debian
Grant Edwards:
>> See my other posts for the case supporting singular "they". If
>> Shakespeare on George Bernard Shaw can do it, so can anyone else ;)
> I used to try that argument in English class.
> It didn't work.
`Grim grammarians in their golden gowns' are rigid, & either accept
a rule absolutely or reject it the same way.
Sometimes the argument applies; sometimes it doesn't. That depends on
context, mainly. And if you're Shakespeare or GBS you can get
away with more than I can. (See the latter's spelling of the former's
name.)
If a usage draws attention to itself, the writer should rewrite.
This is as good a place as any to remark on the advice, in an earlier
post, to take refuge in the plural. Yes, that's one way to solve a
gender-related problem. However, a plural also tends to lengthen a
sentence & befog it. Simplify & shorten; begin with the singular -- &
keep it if you can.
Wendell Cochran
West Seattle
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Reply to: