singular they
Gender-neutral third-person
Singular they uses the plural pronoun to refer to a single person whose gender is unknown, unspecified, or nonbinary.
This usage has centuries of precedent: Someone left their umbrella.
More recently, they serves as a chosen pronoun for individuals who don't identify as he or she: Alex said they would be late.
Though some object to singular they as grammatically incorrect, it fills a genuine gap in English and appears in edited prose.
- themThird-person plural object
- themselfSingular reflexive third-person
- third personGrammatical category for others
- nonbinaryOutside male-female categories
- preferred pronounsSelf-specified gender terms
gender-neutral · pronoun · ze · enby · queer · inclusive · identity · grammar · usage · style guide · Shakespeare · Jane Austen · plural · antecedent · someone · anyone · person · everybody
- pronounsI, me, him, he, my
- gender languagemasculine, feminine, neuter, he, she
- gender-neutralthem, their, themself, Mx., ze
- grammar debatesirregardless, ain't, split infinitive, could of, would of
- third personhe, she, it, him, her
- inclusive languagegender-neutral, preferred pronouns, pronouns, nonbinary, chairperson
singular theygendered language
Words encoding masculine/feminine distinctions
singular, singularity, singularly, singularities, they, theirs