A supposedly feminist error

[Huzington]

"Everyone has lost their sanity."

This is bad English. "Everyone" is singular. It means "every person". That it is singular is evident from the meaning of "every" and "one", and also from the use of "has" instead of "have". "Their" therefore has no place here. What should have been said, therefore, is "his", i.e. "Everyone has lost his sanity." You can say "his or her", too, if you want: but that sounds silly (still less appealing to the ear would be "his/her").

This error has nothing to do with feminism, either. It is old. It is hundreds of years old. It is not an attempt to make our language "less sexist". It is a genuine error which is most unappealing to the ear.

 

[Leif Roar]

"Everyone has lost their sanity."

This is bad English. "Everyone" is singular. It means "every person". That it is singular is evident from the meaning of "every" and "one", and also from the use of "has" instead of "have". "Their" therefore has no place here.

"Their" has a perfectly valid use as a pronoun for an indefinite third person, and this use preceeds the "feminist attacks on the English language."

In sentences such as "Every man and woman must do their duty" there is no suitable replacement for "their" - construct such as "his or her" or using the general "his" sounds awkward and constructed, and is worse English than using "their."

That said, the general "his" has its place as well, and one can't simply replace it with "their." When one is talking about a particular person, which you just don't know the sex of, you shouldn't use their. So, "The unknown perpetrator left their glove at the scene of the crime" is wrong, but "Whoever did this left their glove at the scene" is correct English.

 

[Dancing David]

If everyone is singular then it is a singularly strange singular as it refers to a plural aggregate.

 

[Crossbow]

"Everyone has lost their sanity."

This is bad English. "Everyone" is singular. It means "every person". ...

... It is a genuine error which is most unappealing to the ear.

So what?

We have a president that flubs sytax and sentence structure just about every time he makes a public speech.

 

[c0rbin]

English is not a gendered language, like Italic languages (romance languages).

Nor does english have the neutral that German has.

It is therefore awkward when we must refer to people with pronouns. We can't use "it" and "his" isn't always accurate.

In the past, writers have used "his or her" or "his and her" which is obviously tedious.

But, Fraeybol, I must point out that if you are going to say "Everyone loses his and her sanity," than "their", in a sense, is not so "bad" as you put it. "His and her" are two people.

"Their," a plural, might make sense in that light.

Further, to say "This is bad English." is also inaccurate. It might be "improper" English according to EB White, however 100% of the English speakers understand what you are saying when you say "Everyone loses their sanity."

Since we are being pedantic

 

[Beleth]

[BIt is a genuine error which is most unappealing to the ear. [/B]

Well, to your ear, maybe. My ear likes it better than either "... his sanity" or "... his or her sanity".

 

[Akots]

Well if everyone was derived from "Every One," then try substituting it with "Each one":

"Each one has lost their sanity"

Is pretty wierd. But then "Everyone has lost his or her sanity" doesn't quite roll of the tongue.

 

[shanek]

"Everyone has lost their sanity."

This is bad English.

Not necessarily. There is some room to wiggle over nouns that are technically singular but apply to more than one person.

There is a big difference depending on which side of the pond you're on. At a sporting event, an American announcer might say, "The crowd is going wild," while a British announcer might say, "The crowd are going wild."

But even in America, there are instances of collective nouns taking the plural.

"The jury delivered their verdict."
"The police are responding to the emergency."

It also goes the other way from time to time:

"The data is very clear." ("Data" is the plural form of "datum.")
"The media has a liberal slant." ("Media" is the plural form of "medium.")

And sometimes it's mixed. "Dozen" might be plural when referring to "a dozen people" but singular when referring to "a dozen eggs."

 

[Leif Roar]

Re: Re: A supposedly feminist error

Not necessarily. There is some room to wiggle over nouns that are technically singular but apply to more than one person.

There is a big difference depending on which side of the pond you're on. At a sporting event, an American announcer might say, "The crowd is going wild," while a British announcer might say, "The crowd are going wild."

I don't think that's an actual difference between American English and British English. From "The Penguin guide to Plain English" (printed in England): ...while it is correct to say 'The audience was small', it is also correct to say 'The audience were screaming and waving their hands.' In the former case 'the audience' is the whole body. In the latter case 'the audience' is the gathered individuals. (To say 'The audience were small' would convey that the people were of diminutive stature.)

 

[Huzington]

Re: Re: A supposedly feminist error

"Whoever did this left their glove at the scene" is correct English.

Maybe, but "Someone left their gloves at the scene" is certainly incorrect.

 

[Huzington]

Re: Re: Re: A supposedly feminist error

All good points.

But I am glad that you had made mention to collective nouns. With collective nouns we ought to be consistent, and every informed person acknowledges this. Thus we do not say, "The government are not responsible for its mistakes." We ought to use "their" in place of "its" because it is consistent.

The same holds true, I think, with e.g. "Everyone has lost their sanity." If we are going to use "everyone" in such a disagreeable sense, then, if consistency is desirable, we ought to say, "Everyone have lost their sanity." That, in my perspective, is even more unappealing to the ear. The only appealing solution therefore is to use "his" or "his or her", in my opinion.

 

[Leif Roar]

Re: Re: Re: Re: A supposedly feminist error

All good points.

But I am glad that you had made mention to collective nouns. With collective nouns we ought to be consistent, and every informed person acknowledges this. Thus we do not say, "The government are not responsible for its mistakes." We ought to use "their" in place of "its" because it is consistent.

The same holds true, I think, with e.g. "Everyone has lost their sanity." If we are going to use "everyone" in such a disagreeable sense, then, if consistency is desirable, we ought to say, "Everyone have lost their sanity." That, in my perspective, is even more unappealing to the ear. The only appealing solution therefore is to use "his" or "his or her", in my opinion.

The thing is that "their" is "Everyone has lost their sanity" is not the plural pronoun "their" but the singular pronoun "their." Saying "Everyone has lost their mind" is not inconsistent, since both we use a singular form throughout.

While we usually use the word "government" in its singular form, it also has a plural form in the institutional collective, where we consider the government to be a body of individuals. So, we write "The government has decided." but "The government are divided on the issue."

Words like "everyone", "someone", "nobody" and so on are always singular. They are not collective nouns, and it is always wrong to say "Everyone have lost their minds."