when writing a paper/essay, do you use 'he/she' instead of a single 'he' or 'she'

andylawcc

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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the person is not specified with his/her gender, so should I use "he/she" because
of gender equality or
just a 'he' which is generally accepted?

why i ask, coz typing 'he/she' is ANNOYING! :eek:
 

dennilfloss

Past Lifer 1957-2014 In Memoriam
Oct 21, 1999
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One could write 'one' on occasion if that person feels like it and nobody objects. It all depends on how he/she (one;)) feels about it.

Breaking The Law (Judas Priest)
 

Hawk

Platinum Member
Feb 3, 2000
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Eh, just "he" was fine, until the politically correct thing. Heck, in my textbook, instead of using he, he/she, one, they just use she now (suppose to be gender neutral). What's the world coming to?! =)
 

I wonder how they deal with that in other languages... Probably just use the male pronoun.
 

AndrewR

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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What's interesting is that almost all fact scenarios presented in law school (text books, and with the professors I had, and bar review materials) use "she" consistently. It doesn't bother me, but it's odd that instead of balancing the reference out in "fairness" (who really cares?), they go the opposite way.
 

andylawcc

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
18,183
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the number of he and she used in my Hiskool psychology textbook is EXACTLY the same!
I was bored once and counted them... (well, since Psychology need lots of "For Example" text so the authors get to make up scenarios with shes and hes to balance.)
 

Barus10

Member
Jun 22, 2000
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you should use he/she depending on how picky ur teacher is...:)
It also depends if its for english or some other class like that, or just a blow-off class. you could also use "a person" :)

 

Mday

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
18,647
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he/she, s/he is archaic... well archaic is an exaggeration...

i was told to reword carefully.
 

Raspewtin

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 1999
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I here the new method is switch back and forth (between examples). So that in one continuous reference use she, than later use he.
 

Spoooon

Lifer
Mar 3, 2000
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Page 54 of The Brief English Handbook:


<< In the preceding examples the gender of the antecedents is clear from the context, but often the gender of the antecedent of an indefinite pronoun is unknown or mixed. Traditionally in such cases, a masculine pronoun has been used to refer to the indefinite pronoun.

Everyone living in the apartment building did his best to clean the halls.

Although men and women are probably living in the apartment building, grammatical convention calls for the masculine pronoun his to refer to the indefinite prounoun everyone. This practice, however, is changing because using he or his ignores the presence of women. You can recast such a sentence by making the antecedent plural; by using he or she, his or her; or by avoiding pronouns that refer to indefinite pronouns.
>>