What do I do about grammar disagreements?

I don’t really have an opinion on the subject, but I’m gonna point out that the antecedence is the word that the pronoun is replacing, just for all those not-so-grammer nerds on fluther

When you’re earning a living as a writer, your style will be appreciated. Until then, follow the conventions of grammar your professor upholds.

I totally understand where you’re coming from! I’m no grammar nerd, but in junior high I was criticized for using “they”, and I never forgot it.

In my university papers, I usually restructure my sentences when I come across this problem. I cut out the “they” and “he or she” altogether and make more specific sentences. To keep things simple, I like to refer to “the viewer”, “the audience”, “the director”, and “the character(s)”. Sometimes I resort to a more general usage of the word “one”, which sort of includes me in my paper (beware, though- improper use of the word can sound pretentious).

I suppose it really depends on the subject. What subject are you writing about?

Apparently, you can use the word ”yo” and it means the same thing!

Binding arbitration.

(If you want a published example that supports your style, look at the prologue of What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles. If it’s anything like the very old edition I have, he’ll provide justification for “they.”)

Your school probably has endorsed one of the style guides, such as the Chicago Manual of Style or The Associated Press Stylebook. Your prof probably knows this (but may not care). See if that style guide has something to bolster your point.

If you go into writing as a pro, for a newspaper for example, you will probably have to get familiar with one of the prevailing guides.

Steelmarket is correct. Your professor is correct if the school endorses the Chicago Manual of Style.

You are correct if the school endorses the AP Stylebook.

My reading of the AP Stylebook page linked above is that they do not endorse they as a singular pronoun; even if they do, your professor probably won’t be convinced to change her standards. Restructuring your sentences seems like the best bet.

So how can you do that? It depends on why you’re using passive voice and referring to they. Sometimes both of those are the easiest way to make observations when you’re not allowed to say “I” (and if your prof doesn’t like passive voice or they, I doubt she’d allow you to use the first person). If you’re writing a lit paper, you can refer to “the reader” or give responsibility to the author. Or reword so that you can use the plural they. There are lots of options; “he or she” is almost never the best solution.

They by themselves is not singular but is considered acceptable for “gender neutral” writing, which in itself is debatable as to the value. I personally go with “he” as I was taught that the use of “he” relates back to “a member of mankind”. Mankind is plural.

Quite frankly, for academic writing, I would give the professor what she wants, and be done with it.

I think the MLA is the best academic authority although many colleges and universities have local standards links on their websites. Check out yours then there is no question-that is what the faculty has agreed to. (Whoops, ended in a proposition!)

This particular topic also can be searched as noun/verb agreement. Here is the link for Skidmore.

http://cms.skidmore.edu/writing_guide/index/agreement.cfm

But, Bubby, never argue with a professor about grammar!

It depends on who you are writing for. In this case, it sounds like you are going to have to cave.

I have edited around that pronoun construction many a time. There is nearly always an alternative. One is to look for a phrasing with the relative pronoun “who.” For example:

If someone wants to ~~~, they {he or she} can ~~~

can be rewritten as

Someone who wants to ~~~ can ~~~

You can use the plural too, of course:

People who want to ~~~ can ~~~.

I have edited entire books for publishers who insisted on gender neutrality, not even settling for a balance of he’s and she’s. One of those was a counseling textbook that contained numerous passages pertaining to one (gender-neutral) therapist and one (gender-neutral) client, where I couldn’t even dodge behind the plural. It was a challenge, but I solved every instance. So I know it can be done. You just have to use different sentence constructions. I’d rather do that, myself, than just capitulate or leave myself open to a charge of incorrect grammar.

As for the passive, I champion and defend it as a perfectly legitimate and valuable English construction. It can be overused and misused, to be sure, but there are also times and places when it is exactly the right solution.

However, I have lately run into a number of instances where the critic was totally misidentifying the passive, having it hopelessly confused with any form of the verb “to be.” In one case, an author was criticized for overuse of the passive in a short story written in the past tense. The critic had circled every instance of “was”! They were all simple past tense. Only two occurrences in the entire story were actually passive: “was born” and “was adopted.” Definitely the right time to use passive. I would first be sure that this professor was accurately identifying the passive voice before looking for workarounds.

If you have made appropriate and justifiable use of the passive voice and yet the professor objects (and you can’t cite statistics to show you haven’t overused it), I would recommend malicious compliance: give her the active voice in every single instance and see how she likes it.

@Jeruba, in your post a good observation is made by you about the passive being sometimes useful, and also regarding the misidentification of passive voice by stupid and/or overzealous people. However, “malicious compliance” seems like a bad strategy to recommend for MindErrantry.

The best outcome for MindErrantry’s GPA would result from simply rewriting the paper according to the professor’s outlines and then being done with it. There aren’t principles at stake here; it’s simply a matter of working with a potentially obnoxious client.

</passive>

Well, @bob, I suppose you are right in a way. It’s true that this sort of thing, assertion of petty authority without concomitant expertise, pushes a button of mine. As does false teaching. But I would certainly not recommend overtly labeling the exercise as malicious compliance. A purely pragmatic person such as I have never been would just do what’s asked, of course.

But I do think principles come into it. A professor is not like a client, first because he or she holds the power to grade you and not just to refuse to pay you (and you can fire a client—I have), and second because this same person is going to go on to exert the same influence over others. Reasoned argumentation has not changed her mind, but realization might. If MindErrantry (who by his or her name suggests that he or she is not afraid of windmills—nor am I) has any concern for his or her fellow students, looking beyond the limits of his or her paper and grade, he or she might load the next draft with instances of overwrought active voice that would cause the professor to holler uncle.

A paragraph such as the foregoing might, similarly, cause a person to question the wisdom of “he or she” as a global solution.

@Jeruba—awesome! Well done :)

@bob—I do think principles come into it; as I’m unlikely to become a professional writer, here’s my time to show my style, so if I give in now, when am I going to stick to it? That’s how I see this and I hope to change a few peoples’ minds along the way.

Thank you, @ME. Please let us know how this turns out.

(I must also mention that it is true you are taking a risk, and that means your principles may cost you something. You have to be prepared to pay.)

OK, I’m convinced that there are principles involved. Sorry about that. You should sound the way you want to sound, not just the way your professor dictates. If you are going to change your writing, let it be because you have been convinced that “they” is not singular and that the passive voice is usually the wrong choice, rather than because you have been coerced by your professor. And let us hope that she turns out to be a well-meaning snob rather than an ugly authoritarian.

So. “He or she” is terribly clunky, but “they” is also unwieldy and will leave your reader(s) sometimes annoyed. I’m not sure that you can convince your professor otherwise. It’s much easier to impress/annoy your professor with good examples of the passive voice.

To that end: Direct her to Diana Hacker’s post on good usage of the passive voice, or to Brian Garner’s Modern American Usage, where he specifies that the passive should often be used in the following situations: when the actor is unimportant or unknown, “when you want to hide the actor’s identity, when you need to put the punch word at the end of the sentence, when the focus of the passage is on the thing being acted upon, or when the passive simply sounds better” (593).

Additionally, Garner comments: “Sometimes you’ll be justified in using the passive voice. There’s no absolute prohibition against it—and anyone who tries carrying out such a prohibition would spoil a piece of writing.”

and now that Jeruba has used the word “concomitant,” I will go read all of their previous questions

‘They’ is not unwieldy, per se—it’s a single word, like any other pronoun. It may simply cause confusion for those unused to seeing it in writing, which is on their end rather than on the writer’s—though I would be willing to bet the readers all use it in their speech. I would also think, just as idle speculation, that the age of a professor might matter on how convinceable they are… just based on my experience.

@bob—good quotes on the passive.

Show her the entry on singular “they” in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, which shows how it is grammatical, with evidence.

I have to bow before Jeruba’s answers to this question, wish I could give her more stars.

And I don’t even get the comment about “too much passive” at all. Passive voice, just like active voice, is used in specific situations. “My mother bore me in 1972” sounds just as silly as “my friend was given a book by me last week, and today I was given it back by him or her”.

I would try to be a little un-like myself to get a decent grade in that class. I tried bucking the system when I was in school. I argued against “Walden,” saying that it was pretty self-righteous of Thoreau to preach from that borrowed soap box. I got a C in that class because it was one of the instructor’s favorite books. Even if you’re not wrong, she/he is the professor. “They” call the shots.

I agree with @Jeruba about “malicious compliance”. In a way, it’s like “killing with kindness”!