Thursday, March 11, 2004
A-man-da Butler doesn't like "they."
In law school writing class, using gendered pronouns where the gender is unknown is not just a style error, it's a content error. So I was taught. Some say that's just PCness, but I agree with the rule. Similarly, "he or she" is patronizing and stilted; "she or he" while stilted, is acceptable. "They" usually works. Verb agreement can be tricky.
Hint for lawyers: avoid archiaic constructions, e.g. "aforesaid plaintiff" unless there is an utterly compelling necessity.
If a crescat is going to refer to a person of unknown gender, they should be careful to avoid content errors. "They"is formal and proper as Baude has shown; contractions are informal.
A person who doesn't like 'they" could always substitute "she or he", or do so 51% of the time, but they should usually go with the terser more natural sounding option.
I referred to my plaintiff "Anonymous" as "she." In the Indiana case, Anonymous was female, from Texas; in the Delaware case, Anonymous was male, from Vermont. Since his gender was undisclosed, I used "she" or "she or he" or, maybe, sometimes, "they."
In law school writing class, using gendered pronouns where the gender is unknown is not just a style error, it's a content error. So I was taught. Some say that's just PCness, but I agree with the rule. Similarly, "he or she" is patronizing and stilted; "she or he" while stilted, is acceptable. "They" usually works. Verb agreement can be tricky.
Hint for lawyers: avoid archiaic constructions, e.g. "aforesaid plaintiff" unless there is an utterly compelling necessity.
If a crescat is going to refer to a person of unknown gender, they should be careful to avoid content errors. "They"is formal and proper as Baude has shown; contractions are informal.
A person who doesn't like 'they" could always substitute "she or he", or do so 51% of the time, but they should usually go with the terser more natural sounding option.
I referred to my plaintiff "Anonymous" as "she." In the Indiana case, Anonymous was female, from Texas; in the Delaware case, Anonymous was male, from Vermont. Since his gender was undisclosed, I used "she" or "she or he" or, maybe, sometimes, "they."
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