What pronoun do you use in your writing when referring to a generic person? Him, her, their?
I came across the following in a post on ReadWriteWeb:
The first time I heard the term “thought leader”, I thought, “Now there’s a cool concept: someone who is able to assert influence and change outcomes through the sheer force and power of her ideas.” (excerpt from Cartoon: Thought Leaders)
The author chose to use the feminine pronoun “her” to describe the nonspecific “someone” in the piece. There are a few reasons one might take issue with such usage:
- The default pronoun used to describe nonspecific persons in the English language is masculine.
- Using the feminine pronoun, while acceptable, is a departure from common usage and causes distraction.
- Changing pronouns is often done as an afterthought in the name of political correctness at the expense of clear, approachable writing.
I asked my followers on Twitter to give me their thoughts on the subject. Here are just a few of their replies:
Following Darla’s suggestion of removing the pronoun, the rewrite reads, “…someone who is able to assert influence and change outcomes through the sheer force and power of [] ideas.” I like that. It truly is a stronger sentence without the pronoun. But deleting pronouns is an unreliable road to stronger writing. We need a solution.
I think we’ll find that solution in the midst of strong ideas thoughtfully expressed with a consistent voice.
I’ve discovered that the more concrete examples I use in my writing, the less time I spend worrying about nuance and vague references. When I talk about general ideas, gender rarely comes into play. When I write about specific people, I often find it a simple matter to reference them with an accurate pronoun.
What about you? Do you think differently of writers who use certain pronouns? Do you find it annoying or refreshing when a writer jumps between “her” and “him” in the same article? I’ve got thick skin and hope to learn from you so fire away with any thoughts you might have!
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