tadahisa said:Hi, I am sending this from Japan. Please help me. It the "their" in the sentence below grammatically correct?
"Everyone has a right their privacy."
I would say it is fine, I am sure others would disagree - they would probably recommend his/her instead.tadahisa said:Hi, I am sending this from Japan. Please help me. It the "their" in the sentence below grammatically correct?
"Everyone has a right their privacy."
timpeac said:To sum up - I think it's fine, but in writing if you want to avoid possible criticism write it another way.
The use of "they" (their, them etc) to refer to a single person. Many people really hate that usage (I'm not one!!) it's like people who want you to say whom instead of who, or not split your infinitives, that kind of thing.Artrella said:Hi Tim, what are you referring to? To the use of "their/they/them" in writing? or to the use of "his"?
Well spotted.Outsider said:It should be "Everyone has a right to their privacy", however.
timpeac said:The use of "they" (their, them etc) to refer to a single person. Many people really hate that usage (I'm not one!!) it's like people who want you to say whom instead of who, or not split your infinitives, that kind of thing.
I always use "they" in speech but would never use it in formal writing. I would opt for "his or her," "one," or a rewording of the sentence.Artrella said:Yes, right, but it is worth mentioning that you can see examples using it in Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries...![]()
I like it!!!![]()
Ahhhhh....you're dealing with the TOEFL here!tadahisa said:Hi, everyone! I am very surprised and pleased to see such a huge number of people have replied to my question. "Everyone has a right to (sorry, missing) their privacy." was given by a TOEFL preparation text, which has no explanation why the "their" part is incorrect. Now that I have got some hints, I guess I can get by. Thank you all! Tadahisa.
Timpeac, I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Everyone is a singular noun, therefore in formal writing you should use his. Everyone has a right to his privacy.timpeac said:I would say it is fine, I am sure others would disagree - they would probably recommend his/her instead.
Basically, in colloquial English we can use "they" (and therefore all the associated words, "them" "their" etc) to refer to a single individual, if you don't know who that person was, or don't know their sex.
For example, "Someone robbed me in the street yesterday!" "oh no! "Did you see their face?". In writing some people criticise this usage, but in speech it would sound very unnatural to say "Did you see this person's face" or "Did you see his or her face?".
One alternative is to always assume the masculine eg "everyone has a right to his privacy" and "Did you see his face?" but others dislike this choice because it is sexist to assume a male, or sometimes completely confusing as in my attacker example - someone may assume you are saying it was definitely a man, when it could have been a woman.
To sum up - I think it's fine, but in writing if you want to avoid possible criticism write it another way.
Hope that helps.
Yup! "Everyone" is a singular indefinite pronoun. If you'd like more information, here's a more detailed explanation of indefinite pronouns in English:tadahisa said:Wow!, thank you very much, elroy. I did not now that you could practically say, "Everyone is [not are] happy." That question has been worth asking! Tadahisa
I agree with you 100%, Jonathan. That's why I said I'd never use it in writing. Normally I would prefer "his" but political correctness and feminism decry such usage as sexist, and that is what has led to the rise of such alternatives as "his or her."JLanguage said:Timpeac, I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Everyone is a singular noun, therefore in formal writing you should use his. Everyone has a right to his privacy.
I am aware that many people including myself often use their as a neutral singular pronoun, but this is not yet established as correct usage.
My two cents,
-Jonathan.
Hi Jonathan - I'm a bit confused by what you may be disagreeing with - I knew lots of people would think as you do, which is why I highlighted this fact. I did write -JLanguage said:Timpeac, I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Everyone is a singular noun, therefore in formal writing you should use his. Everyone has a right to his privacy.
I am aware that many people including myself often use their as a neutral singular pronoun, but this is not yet established as correct usage.
My two cents,
-Jonathan.
Jonathan,JLanguage said:Timpeac, I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Everyone is a singular noun, therefore in formal writing you should use his. Everyone has a right to his privacy.
I am aware that many people including myself often use their as a neutral singular pronoun, but this is not yet established as correct usage.
My two cents,
-Jonathan.
That solves the problem in one sentence, but it does nothting about the larger problem, and it does nothing to explain why the sentence asked about was expecting only one answer.ameridude said:"Everyone has a right to privacy."
use this form -- it eliminates the incorrectness of "their", the inappropriate use of "his", and the awkwardness of "his/her"
"To," not "for."Emmeline^ said:Everyone has a right for their privacy?
I don't know if this makes any sense, but I'm laughing at what you said, yet I'm taking it very seriously.mjscott said:I am hesitant to post my thoughts, because on the other hand I believe in learning specific rules and having exactness in what you write. It's just when our very best of WordReference English parsers are at odds, and there is a test out there that is validating successes of second-language learners on whether they answer a, b, c, d, or none of the above on a mechanized bubble test, it sometimes steams my clams.
Everyone has a right to _____ own opinion.
a. his--used exclusively in the English-spoken and written world;
b. his/her--correct, but not followed always in script and speech;
c. their--used by some, if your home-town starts with the letters A-F, but not D followed by a consonant;
d. a and not c above;
e. b on months with 31 days and d on alternating Fridays whose dates coincide with the first quarter of a new moon;
f. I think I'll go drown my sense of language failure in merlot and chocolate