Yuri;

When I attended UC Berkeley, "their" was a term acceptable to the English Department. Then suddenly around 1970 it was deemed incorrect for a number of reasons. Call it political correctness or whatever. At the time women’s liberation had a great influence and wanted to have a specific sexual recognition and not be grouped into an indifferent object such as the word “their”.

The use of and argument about the use of their can be found in a number of sources and this is but one.

http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html

When there is convention in the use of a word for 700 years (or for any period for that matter) and that convention changes then there is room for confusion and questioning.

English being a dynamic language will perhaps change the use of this word or series of words in the future.

I once saw a want add for a position of interest and contacted the HR department of the company posting the job. One of my questions was, “What does m/f/h/g/l mean”? The answer was, “Male, female, handicapped, gay and lesbian”. Perhaps we will use such a offering to replace the use of “their, and he/she”. After all, we must not neglect anyone. Gee I am thinking of additional groups that make the news. I had better not continue with that thought! :)

Tom


>Tom,
>
>I am confused: could you share why and on what condition the word "their" is improper to use?
>
>
>>Bonnie;
>>
>>lol
>>
>>One of the things that changed with the American form of the English language within the last 35 years is the use of the word “their”. It is thought and taught to be improper to use such a term. Therefore we must use his/her. What if I had said “he or him”? I just wanted to spread the wealth and not be sexist! :)
>>
>>Tom