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Robert Anderson
ABSTRACT:English speakers commonly use they as a singular pronoun in reference to generic nouns, as in the sentence, “When a customer pays for a meal, they sometimes forget to leave a tip.” But legal writing authorities, including textbook and legal writing style guide authors, almost universally label it ungrammatical. The history of both common English usage and legal usage proves legal writing wrong. The use of the singular they predates even the emergence of modern English. The singular they has been continuously used by English writers from Shakespeare to Austen to Fitzgerald. And, the first American legal writers employed the singular they when drafting the statutes of the nascent Colonies. Nevertheless, modern legal writing pays homage to a later-created rule labeling the singular they as ungrammatical in order to institute the use of the masculine he. This effort was sexist at its inception, and for two hundred years succeeded in subordinating females to the role of second-class citizens within their own language. Today, legal writing authorities perpetuate that effort by refusing to adopt they: the only singular gender-neutral pronoun that is grammatical, simple, and inclusive.