Dave,
I wouldn't expect you to know this because I can't remember enough details myself and it is rather recent. There is some language authority (probably the MLA) which has changed the rules recently on the use of "their" as a singular genderless pronoun to replace gender specific pronouns such as his and hers. I think it has become professionally acceptable. This is just hearsay but it came out of my college english professor's mouth and i can't find it online. I looked. It is new enough that it hasn't filtered through the textbooks yet.
On the other hand, many professional writers from the past used their in place of his/hers. Notice the list of professional and well-known writers from Invalid Link Removed
I think they adopted this so references to certain occupations such as doctor, engineer, and BASSIST would not be sexist. Referring to a doctor, engineer, or bassist as them (sing.) instead of him (most common) doesn't stereotype by sex. Just the fact that I know that using him is most common puts the root of the sexist idea in my head. Their is a fine line that is easy to cross mentally. They are trying to get away from that.
So if language is indeed a pet peeve of yours, then you ought to look into this so you know (btw my tone is not to be a smartass but I just learned this and I am passing it on.)
On another note, this is just my opinion, but since this is an international forum the mastery of english is even more varied than in our US population, trying to enforce any grammar rules doesn't make much sense, unless most people just can't understand something. If this was a professional forum or if things got published (in the scholarly sense) then it would make more sense. Once again, my opinion, but as long as people can understand it then the communication is good enough. Even with perfect grammar, people can have bad communication if it cause a significant number of people to come away with non-compatible ideas. Don't even ask me the number or percentage. LOL I agree that some subjects are inherently like that too. It would take an incredibly good or boringly thorough writer to get around that for certain subjects. Bass probably isn't one of those subjects in most cases (until we start describing sound LOL.)
I agree that some of the stuff you pointed out makes it harder to read... but for me I simply just don't read it. Perhaps it is good to have people around to correct other people's grammar. Tell them once and if they don't adjust, then what's the point? It's probably a parent or personal teacher's responsibility to tell someone more than once, unless that person asks you for help.
humbly,
Joe
I wouldn't expect you to know this because I can't remember enough details myself and it is rather recent. There is some language authority (probably the MLA) which has changed the rules recently on the use of "their" as a singular genderless pronoun to replace gender specific pronouns such as his and hers. I think it has become professionally acceptable. This is just hearsay but it came out of my college english professor's mouth and i can't find it online. I looked. It is new enough that it hasn't filtered through the textbooks yet.
On the other hand, many professional writers from the past used their in place of his/hers. Notice the list of professional and well-known writers from Invalid Link Removed
I think they adopted this so references to certain occupations such as doctor, engineer, and BASSIST would not be sexist. Referring to a doctor, engineer, or bassist as them (sing.) instead of him (most common) doesn't stereotype by sex. Just the fact that I know that using him is most common puts the root of the sexist idea in my head. Their is a fine line that is easy to cross mentally. They are trying to get away from that.
So if language is indeed a pet peeve of yours, then you ought to look into this so you know (btw my tone is not to be a smartass but I just learned this and I am passing it on.)
On another note, this is just my opinion, but since this is an international forum the mastery of english is even more varied than in our US population, trying to enforce any grammar rules doesn't make much sense, unless most people just can't understand something. If this was a professional forum or if things got published (in the scholarly sense) then it would make more sense. Once again, my opinion, but as long as people can understand it then the communication is good enough. Even with perfect grammar, people can have bad communication if it cause a significant number of people to come away with non-compatible ideas. Don't even ask me the number or percentage. LOL I agree that some subjects are inherently like that too. It would take an incredibly good or boringly thorough writer to get around that for certain subjects. Bass probably isn't one of those subjects in most cases (until we start describing sound LOL.)
I agree that some of the stuff you pointed out makes it harder to read... but for me I simply just don't read it. Perhaps it is good to have people around to correct other people's grammar. Tell them once and if they don't adjust, then what's the point? It's probably a parent or personal teacher's responsibility to tell someone more than once, unless that person asks you for help.
humbly,
Joe
