Tag Archives: pronouns

College students are increasingly identifying beyond ‘she’ and ‘he’

College students are increasingly identifying beyond ‘she’ and ‘he’

When students today fill out their college applications, they are not just identifying as “she” or “he.” More than 3% of incoming college students use a different set of pronouns. That’s according to my analysis of the more than 1.2 million applications submitted for the 2022-23 school year through the Common App, an online application […] … learn more→

This, they, it, those, these – a revision strategy

This, they, it, those, these – a revision strategy

One of my pet peeves is reading sentences which contain an ambiguous pronoun.  The pronoun stands alone, isolated. The lonely goatherd on the hilltop. Sentences that start with, or contain, an unattached this, they, it, those, these seem to expect the reader to just know what the this, they, it, those, and these refer to. In reality, the singleton pronoun is […] … learn more→

For linguists, it was the decade of the pronoun

For linguists, it was the decade of the pronoun

On Jan. 3, the American Dialect Society held its 30th annual “Word of the Year” vote, which this year also included a vote for “Word of the Decade.” It was the year – and the decade – of the pronoun. In a nod to shifting attitudes about gender identities that are nonbinary – meaning they don’t neatly […] … learn more→