Singular they

Singular they is the use in English of the pronoun they or its inflected or derivative forms, them, their, theirs, and themselves (or themself), as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. It typically occurs with an antecedent of indeterminate gender, as in sentences such as:

The singular they had emerged by the 14th century and is common in everyday spoken English, but its use has been the target of criticism since the late 19th century. Its use in formal English has increased with the trend toward gender-inclusive language.

Though the "singular they" permits a singular antecedent, it is used with a plural verb form.

Singular they has mostly the same inflected forms as the plural they (i.e. them, their, and theirs), with variation in the reflexive form. The plural reflexive form themselves is sometimes used for the singular, but there is an alternative singular reflexive form, themself. Themself was common from the 14th to 16th centuries and its use has increased since about the 1970s or 1980s, but it was classified by the 2015 edition of Fowler's as "a minority form" and its use in standard dialect was described by The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language as "rare and acceptable only to a minority of speakers". Its use is thought to be increasing. It is sometimes used when referring to a single person of indeterminate gender, where the plural form themselves might seem incongruous, as in

The Canadian government recommends themselves as the reflexive form of singular they for use in Canadian federal legislative texts and advises against using themself, but themself is also found:

They with a singular antecedent has remained in common use for centuries in spite of its proscription by traditional grammarians. Such use goes back to the Middle English of the 14th century.

Informal spoken English exhibits nearly universal use of the singular they. An examination by Jürgen Gerner of the British National Corpus published in 1998 found that British speakers regardless of social status, age, sex, or region used the singular they overwhelmingly more often than the gender-neutral he or other options.

Singular they is found in the writings of many respected authors.

Alongside they, it was also acceptable to use the pronoun he to refer to an indefinite person of either gender, as in the following:

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