They (pronounced /ðeɪ/) is a third-person, personal pronoun (subject case) in Modern English.
| Singular | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Object | Reflexive | Subject | Object | Reflexive | ||
| First | I | me | myself | we | us | ourselves | |
| Second | you | you | yourself | you | you | yourselves | |
| Third | Masculine | he | him | himself | they | them | themselves |
| Feminine | she | her | herself | ||||
| Neuter | it | it | itself | ||||
Contents |
The "singular" they is the use of this pronoun, where they is used as a gender-neutral singular rather than plural pronoun. The correctness of this usage is disputed. [1][2]
The singular pronoun they is even found in formal or official texts. For example, a 2008 amendment to the Canadian Criminal Code contains the following text:
if a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that, because of their physical condition, a person may be incapable of providing a breath sample... (subparagraph 254(3)(a)(ii))
Which contrasts, for example, with subsection 252(2):
...evidence that an accused failed to stop his vehicle... and give his name and address is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof of an intent to escape civil or criminal liability.
| Singular | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Object | Possessive | Subject | Object | Possessive | ||
| First | I | me | mi(n) | we | us | ure | |
| Second | thou | thee | thy | ye | you | your | |
| Third | Impersonal | hit | it/him | his | he they |
hem them |
hir their |
| Masculine | he | him | his | ||||
| Feminine | sche | hire | hir | ||||
|
||||||||
| They by |
They is a 1916 poem by the English soldier and
poet Siegfried Sassoon published in The Old Huntsman and Other
Poems. It disparages the attitude of the established church
to the Great War.
|
The Bishop tells us: 'When the boys come back
'They will not be the same; for they'll have fought
'In a just cause: they lead the last attack
'On Anti-Christ; their comrades' blood has bought
'New right to breed an honourable race,
'They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.'
'We're none of us the same!' the boys reply.
'For George lost both his legs; and Bill's stone blind;
'Poor Jim's shot through the lungs and like to die;
'And Bert's gone syphilitic: you'll not find
'A chap who's served that hasn't found some change.'
And the Bishop said: 'The ways of God are strange!'
 |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923. It may be copyrighted outside the U.S. (see Help:Public domain). |  |
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Search
