For instance, would it be correct to say "The pharmacist held the medicine in their hand"? Thank you so much!
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2Only if (1) the pharmacist is of unknown gender or the gender is being masked for a sound reason (otherwise, a Gricean maxim is being violated) and (2) only one hand was involved. Singular 'their' behaves just like 'his' or 'her' (or 'its').– Edwin AshworthCommented Feb 6, 2022 at 13:59
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2It doesn't depend on the pronoun. Even plural 'their' can precede a singular noun - e.g. The passengers rushed to catch their plane.– LawrenceCommented Feb 6, 2022 at 15:46
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2Another way the singular "hand" could be correct: (3) The pharmacist's pronoun is "they".– Rosie FCommented Feb 6, 2022 at 16:29
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Thank you so much, everyone! These are some of the answers I was looking for!– RoseDavieCommented Feb 6, 2022 at 20:18
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1The thing I have trouble with is how to neutralize "She told herself etc." -- They told themselves? I wonder how people make that conversion gracefully in practice.– aparente001Commented Feb 7, 2022 at 5:01
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2 Answers
It is correct.
Cambridge
their: determinerA1
of or belonging to them:
He gave them their coats.B1 used to refer to one person in order to avoid saying "his or her":
One of the students has left their book behind.
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{I answer because you are a new contributor and because I believe your question will be migrated to English Language Learners. I also suggest that you could have made this research yourself before posing the question.}– AntonCommented Feb 6, 2022 at 13:19
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Hi Anton. I did actually research it but I was only confused about whether to use hand or hands in this particular example. Thanks for your answer. Commented Feb 6, 2022 at 13:43
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5That clearly depends on whether they were using one hand or both! Commented Feb 6, 2022 at 13:45
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1@KateBunting That's true, it also depends on whether the person has one or more of the things mentioned. For instance "The pharmacist shook their head" implies that there was one pharmacist but that either their gender was obscured (perhaps by full-body PPE) or that they identified as non-binary and had made their preference for the gender-neutral pronoun known.– BoldBenCommented Feb 7, 2022 at 11:45
Like many others have mentioned, "hand" would only apply if they used one hand! Oddly enough though, you would say "They are", unlike "He/She/It/(Name) is", as "They is" isn't proper english. Neither is "You is", and as a result, "They are" is comparable to such when it's used as singular "they", such as in the case of non-binary people or those you don't know the gender of. If you're not sure, it might help to sound out each possibility and see if one doesn't seem correct, like in the case of "They is", although I wouldn't recommend it as an accurate method.
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Yep! Unfortunately, I only thought of the case of "You are" after I had commented. Thank you for correcting me. Should I edit my answer to include this?– AkihiroCommented Jun 18, 2022 at 4:16