"His or her" or "Their?" Which is correct?

"Generic" or "Gender-Neutral" Pronouns: A Huge Mess

Have you ever wondered which of these is correct?  

A. Each student must bring his or her own laptop to the seminar.   

B. Each student must bring their own laptop to the seminar.    

Technically, A is correct and B is incorrect.  This is because "each student" is singular--it refers to each individual student--while "their" is a plural pronoun.  A noun must match its pronoun. 

However, although "their" is technically grammatically incorrect in that sentence, not every editor would flag it.  Here's why:  In the days before politically correct speech became the norm, everyone just used "he/his/him" as "gender neutral" pronouns.  When we started paying more attention to using unbiased language, we realized that "he" isn't actually neutral at all--it's masculine.  This poses a problem, though.  Do we use "he or she" instead?  Some people say yes, but others argue that plugging in "he or she" every time is cumbersome.   

So--many people use "they/their" to deal with this issue.  The reason this is technically ungrammatical is that "they" is a plural pronoun.  In a sentence like the example above, where you've established a singular subject ("an individual"), you technically need a singular pronoun.   

Let's look at another example: 

*According to the Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, Strecher, & Becker, 1988; Rosenstock, 2004), an individual's behavior is the result of their health beliefs or the subjective value that he or she places on a given outcome (e.g., the desire to avoid illness or to get well) and their belief or expectation that a particular action will lead to that outcome. 

As you can see, this sentence employs a mix of singular and plural pronouns--the author uses both "he or she" and "their."  You could fix this sentence in a number of ways (I have highlighted my changes): 

His/her and he/she: 

*According to the Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, Strecher, & Becker, 1988; Rosenstock, 2004), an individual’s behavior is the result of his or her health beliefs or the subjective value that he or she places on a given outcome (e.g., the desire to avoid illness or to get well) and the belief or expectation that a particular action will lead to that outcome. 

Notice that I changed "their" to "the" in the latter part of the sentence to avoid using "his or her" again. You could also do this (to further avoid the "his or her...he or she" repetition):   

S/he: 

*According to the Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, Strecher, & Becker, 1988; Rosenstock, 2004), an individual’s behavior is the result of his or her health beliefs or the subjective value that s/he places on a given outcome (e.g., the desire to avoid illness or to get well) and the belief or expectation that a particular action will lead to that outcome. 

In this example, I changed "he or she" to "s/he."  Some writers like this solution, while others claim that it looks too informal.    

Some experts (myself included) recommend wording sentences to avoid the whole problem, like this:   

*According to the Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, Strecher, & Becker, 1988; Rosenstock, 2004), an individual’s behavior is the result of the health beliefs or the subjective value that individual places on a given outcome (e.g., the desire to avoid illness or to get well), and the belief or expectation that a particular action will lead to that outcome. 

Or like this (change the singular noun to a plural noun): 

*According to the Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, Strecher, & Becker, 1988; Rosenstock, 2004), individuals behave according to their health beliefs or the subjective value they place on a given outcome (e.g., the desire to avoid illness or to get well), and the belief or expectation that a particular action will lead to that outcome. 

that example, I changed "an individual" (singular) to "individuals" (plural).  This made it appropriate to use the plural pronouns "they" and "their," thus eliminating the problem. This won't always be a good option; it depends on the sentence. 

Earlier I said that not every editor would have flagged this.  This is because it's been a lot of years since the advent of politically correct speech, and people are getting tired of having to wrestle with their pronouns.  Using "they/their" instead of "he or she" is an easy solution that doesn't usually cause reader confusion (most of the time, readers will realize that you are simply trying to avoid cumbersome wording).  Many experts believe that eventually using "they/their" as gender neutral pronouns will become the new rule, but at the moment it's still technically grammatically incorrect.  For some people, in fact, it's a pet peeve.  Until the rule changes, then, the best thing to do is word the sentence to avoid the whole sticky mess.  

For more on this, check out this great post by "Grammar Girl" Mignon Fogerty:  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/generic-singular-pronouns?page=all 

I hope you've found this week's post helpful.  Happy scribbling! 

I.e. vs. E.g

Today's topic: I.e. or e.g.?

Deciding  whether to use i.e. or e.g. tends to give people fits.  Some writers just decide which abbreviation they think sounds better, and use that one for everything.  There are rules for when to use each one, however, and the two are not interchangeable.  So let's get this sorted out once and for all.

What i.e. and e.g. stand for:
I.e. stands for the Latin phrase "id est," which essentially means "that is."  E.g. stands for the Latin phrase "exempli gratia," which means "for instance" or "for example."  This alone should go some way toward helping you distinguish between them, but let's go a little further.

When to use which:
There are a few tricks that experts advise using to help you remember when to use which abbreviation.  For example, internet "Grammar Girl" Mignon Fogerty says to remember that i.e., which starts with i, means "in other words," and that e.g., which starts with e, means "for example."  E: for example.  I: in other words.  I find this trick to be the most helpful.

If you don't like that tip, try remembering it this way: "e.g." looks a bit like the word "egg," which rhymes with "example."  E.g. = for example.  "I.e." could stand for "in essence," which is quite similar to its actual meaning, "in other words."

Examples:

E.g.: "for example."  Use e.g. to tell readers that you are about to give them an example of something.

"I love desserts, e.g. cheesecake and gelato." 

Note that I love plenty of other desserts other than cheesecake and gelato; my use of "e.g." doesn't indicate that I'm going to give you a comprehensive list of ALL the desserts I like.  It just indicates that I'm giving you a couple of examples to illustrate my point.

"He likes watching sports, e.g. baseball and basketball."

Similarly, the use of "e.g." in this sentence implies that the guy likes watching lots of different sports, not just baseball and basketball.  Those are just given as two examples from a list that probably includes quite a few others as well.

I.e.: "in other words."  Use i.e. to introduce a detailed, specific clarification.  If I only loved two desserts--cheesecake and gelato--then I'd want to use i.e., as in:

"I love desserts, i.e. cheesecake and gelato."

In this example, because I used "i.e.," you can deduce that cheesecake and gelato are the only two desserts I love.

"He likes watching sports, i.e. baseball and basketball."

In this example, the use of "i.e." tells us that this guy only likes watching two sports, baseball and basketball.

Still confused?
There's no reason why you absolutely HAVE to use the abbreviations, so if you're still a little fuzzy on which is which, just spell out what you mean, either "for example" or "in other words."

To read Mignon Fogerty's excellent post on the particulars of e.g. and i.e. (including how to punctuate them), click here: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/ie-versus-eg

I hope this has helped clarify when to use these two often-troublesome abbreviations.  Happy scribbling!

That vs. Which

Today's topic: That vs. Which

"Should I use 'that' or 'which' in this sentence?"  It's a frequently asked question, and a frequent blunder.  Fortunately, the rules governing "that" and "which" are fairly simple.  Let's clear up this troublesome topic, shall we?

THAT:

"That" should precede a restrictive clause.  What's a restrictive clause?  It's a phrase that is essential to the meaning of a sentence.  If you eliminate a restrictive clause, the meaning changes.  Let's look at some examples.

Cupcakes that have caramel in them are addictive to me.

If we remove the underlined clause, we totally change the meaning.  I'm not addicted to regular cupcakes, just the ones with caramel in them. 

Flowers that have a strong scent fascinate my dog. 

Not all flowers have a strong scent, so if we remove the underlined clause we totally change the meaning of the sentence.  My dog isn't fascinated by odorless flowers.

The enchiladas that were made with hot peppers made him sick.   

By now, you get the idea.  The regular enchiladas didn't make him sick, only the ones with hot peppers.

WHICH:

Use "which" before a nonrestrictive clause.  What is a nonrestrictive clause?  It's a phrase that can be omitted from a sentence without substantially changing its meaning.  Nonrestrictive clauses are non-essential; they  just provide extra details.  Let's look at some examples.

The Ferrari Enzo, which costs a fortune, is my brother's dream car.

If we eliminated the underlined phrase, it wouldn't substantially change the meaning of the sentence (everyone knows Ferraris are expensive). 

The couch, which has a wine stain on the left armrest, needs to be cleaned.

Again, the message is the same with or without the underlined portion.  The couch needs cleaning.  The underlined clause simply gives us more information about why.

Notice that the nonrestricted clauses in the two examples above are bookended by commas.  In fact, nonrestricted clauses are almost always either surrounded by commas or preceded by them (as in "We saw a double rainbow, which was gorgeous").

If you have trouble remembering phrases like "restricted clause" and "nonrestricted clause," just remember this: If you could take out the phrase without substantially changing the meaning of the sentence, use "which."  If you need the phrase to make your meaning clear, use "that."

One more tip:  Never use "which" or "that" when referring to people; use "who" or "whom."  Example:  The participants, who were chosen through random sampling, ranged in age from 18 to 35.

Pretty simple, no?  I hope you've found this week's post helpful.  As always, happy scribbling!