"Gender Neutral" Agreement

Sentence Agreement
"Gender Neutral" Agreement	Framed \| Unframed

Read & Contrast

Using "Gender Neutral" Pronouns

The pronoun "his" can refer to males or females. However, to remove the possible reference to only one gender "his" (masculine), speakers often use "their" (plural) to avoid specifying male or female. When proofreading your essay, subjects, verbs and pronouns need to agree. There are a few "gray" areas that may not be "set in stone". Usage is ever-changing.


Formal	Informal & "Gender Neutral"
Everyone had his picture taken. (masculine pronoun may refer to males and females)	Everyone had their picture taken. (While the plural pronoun does not agree with "one", it may refer to both males and females.)
Everyone had her picture taken. (feminine pronoun refers only to females)

Why do speakers use two forms -- "his" and "their"?

Many speakers feel awkard choosing one pronoun - his or her.
Everyone must mail his income tax by April 15. (Do only men have to pay taxes?)
Some writers alternate using "his" and "her" in their text.
A baby may be able to stand up by herself by the age of 10 months. (Dr. Brazelton)

Two Fixes:

1. Change the subject to a plural form to avoid having to choose:

SINGULAR: "Everyone must pay his or her tax by April 15."
PLURAL: "All Americans must pay their taxes by April 15."
INFORMAL USAGE: "Everyone must pay their taxes by April 15."

2. Change the verb to passive voice:

PLURAL PASSIVE: "Income tax must be mailed to the goverment by April 15th."

Once you decide to switch from using singular subjects (a person) to a plural subjects (people), continue to choose the plural subject throughout the rest of your paragraph.

Conventions are formed with time and this one is not decided yet. For formal papers use "he" or "he or she" for the 3rd person singular form. Ask your instructor or professor his/her/their preference on which you should use.

Practice

Identify the problems and the find strategies use "gender neutral" phrasing.

Read the flyer for a basketball summer camp:

BASKETBALL CAMP PHILOSOPHY: MORE THAN CHAMPIONS

Our camp provides a service to help everyone reach their potiential. Our goal is for each camper to work hard and feel good about themselves in a safe, disciplined, highly structured and motivated environment of learning and fun. We place every child and their personal development ahead of the game. Everyone of our children gets positive enouragement to improve their fundmental skills. Players also learn sportsmanship while working with their team to win. At the end of the camp session, all the children will get their certificates. Every child will have enjoyed his basketball camp program.

The writer wants to encourage both boys and girls to attend. The above paragraph has pronoun agreement problems. Let's try use a couple strategies to improve it.

STRATEGY 1: CHANGE ALL TO SINGULAR

Our camp provides a service to help everyone reach potiential. Our goal is for each camper to work hard and feel good about in a safe, disciplined, highly structured and motivated environment of learning and fun. We place every child and personal development ahead of the game. Everyone of our children gets positive enouragement to improve fundmental skills. A player also learns sportsmanship while working with team to win. At the end of the camp session, every child will get certificate. Every child will have enjoyed basketball camp program.

Using singular pronouns (masculine) makes the paragraph grammatically correct, but it does not appeal to girls.
Using singular pronouns (masculine and feminine) is a bit repetitive and awkward .

STRATEGY 2: CHANGE ALL TO PLURAL

Our camp provides a service to help children reach potientials. Our goal is for all campers to work hard and feel good about in a safe, disciplined, highly structured and motivated environment of learning and fun. We place all children and personal development ahead of the game. All of our children get positive enouragement to improve fundmental skills. Players also learn sportsmanship while working with teams to win. At the end of the camp session, the children will get certificates. Campers will have enjoyed basketball camp program.

Using plural nouns and pronouns removes the focus from the individual to "all". While it does not emphsize "individual attention" in the camp-flyer, it does remove the agreement errors.

Practice 2

STRETEGY 3

Use plural nouns and pronouns for general statements.
Use singular nouns and pronouns for statements focusing on the individual attention given by the camp.

#	YOUR EDIT	ANSWERS
1.	Every child will receive his lunch and snack daily. CHANGE TO PLURAL AGREEMENT: ALL CHILDREN Every child will receive his lunch and snack daily.	Edit 1
2.	All children will get individual help with their ball handling skills. CHANGE TO SINGULAR AGREEMENT: EVERY CHILD All children will get individual help with their ball handling skills	Edit 2
3.	Campers, who have special needs, should talk to their counselors. CHANGE TO SINGULAR AGREEMENT: A CAMPER Campers, who have special needs, should talk to their counselors.	Edit 3
4.	Campers will receive T-shirts with their names on them. CHANGE TO SINGULAR AGREEMENT: EACH Campers will receive T-shirts with their names on them.	Edit 4
5.	Every camper will participate on a team to improve his sportsmanship skills. CHANGE TO PLURAL AGREEMENT: CAMPERS Every camper will participate on a team to improve sportsmanship skills.	Edit 5
6.	Each player will have an opportunity to get his name on the Award Board. CHANGE TO PLURAL AGREEMENT: PLAYERS Each player will have an opportunity to get his name on the Award Board.	Edit 6
7.	The children will find themselves becoming more confident. CHANGE TO SINGULAR AGREEMENT: EVERY The children will find themselves becoming more confident.	Edit 7

Also see: Possessive Nouns | Possessive Pronouns

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Julie Sevastopoulos - College of San Mateo - San Mateo, CA 94402 USA

Sentence Agreement

Read & Contrast

Practice

Practice 2