Wharfiner, although "
They" isn't singular in general, I often use it as a neutral singular pronoun. In other words I'll say "they" instead of specifying a gender. It may not be conventional grammar usage, but there are plenty of exceptions in the English language, so perhaps we should make one more. I think we need a
neutral singular third-person pronoun.
I happen to be a
grammar nut myself, but my grammar pet peeve is when people take grammar rules too literally, and use it even when
logic dictates otherwise.
Example: I had this English teacher who claimed that when you compare things you must always use the word "other." Like "The Ford Excursion is bigger than all other cars." So I asked her if the following example "New York is bigger than all the cities in Amsterdam." So she insisted that you need to say "New York is bigger than all the other cities in Holland." I persisted and pointed out that that sentence implies that New York is in Amsterdam. So she said you must say "New York, which is in the U.S., is bigger than all the other cities in Amsterdam." if you want to avoid confusion about where New York is. Clearly this woman is off her rocker. Logic tells me that the only time you need to use the word "other" is when the thing you're comparing is part of the set it's being compared to. This is because something cannot be bigger/better/smarter than itself. Example: "The Ford Excursion is bigger than all cars" is grammatically flawed because the Ford Excursion is a car and cannot be bigger than itself. Unfortunately, my English teacher is still listening to whatever the teacher's manual tells her, so that point is lost on her.
Will Smith, supposedly is also really nutty about grammar. He has said this himself. Well I noticed that he misused the rule about putting "an", instead of "a", before a word that starts with a vowel. In his song Just the Two of Us theres a part that he says "or even a M.C." The trouble is that although "M.C. starts with a consonant, its pronounced with a vowel: "emcee." That rule of grammar exists only to avoid awkwardness in verbalization. Will Smith took it too literally and thought he was being clever.
special thanks to
peej