On 11/10/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge(a)telus.net> wrote:
Oxford Style Manual: "Though common in speech it
is still substandard
usage, and should be avoided in formal writing: Necessity may in time
establish 'they' as an accepted non-gender-specific singular pronoun in
English, but this has yet to happen."
It is yet to happen in the US. There is no shortage of evidence of
it's use in British English and even more so in Australian english.
Good writers will avoid imposing one form or the
other, and look for
alternatives. Had you read further in paragraph 5.204 you would have
seen, "What is wanted, in short, is a kind of invisible gender
neutrality. There are many ways to achieve such language, but it takes
though and often some hard work"
Ec
And while the grammer fantics continue to play their games those of us
who understand that langaue is a tool will continue to use the
singular they.
--
geni