They
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Philip J. Rayment (talk | contribs) at 12:56, February 23, 2008. It may differ significantly from current revision.
They is a pronoun that is most commonly used as the plural of "he" and/or "she".
Throughout history the word has been used to refer to the plural form of he/she, but also in a singular form when gender is either unknown or unspecified. This has become more pronounced in recent times, with the feminist movement desiring the use of the singular "they" in place of "he" or "she" when gender is unspecified, with the aim of ending perceived bias. Conservatives view this as a politically correct alternative pushed by liberals, which is often redundant as "he" has traditionally been used to refer to both men and women.