his/her NOT their

I believe that the worst grammar problem that I, or anyone else, has dealt with, is the use of “their” or “they” in place of “his/her” or “he/she”. We have to be careful of this when talking in the singular. The most common mistake is using these words in sentences that could refer to either gender, masculine or feminine.

This grammar error often slips by during the editing process. We read incorrect sentences as being correct because we are so used to seeing it in the wrong way. Usually this error occurs when there is no gender difference in the subject and “their” is used as the pronoun. This makes no logical sense, though it sounds correct.

The best way to fix this is to just pay more attention to how you are using the words “they” and “their.” Ask yourself if it is referring to one person or multiple people. Many people forget or don’t even know that they are making this error and so they cannot fix it. Once your paper is finished, read through it, and pause every time to come across the word, to make sure it is being used correctly.

Incorrect Examples:

- A person is entitled to their own opinions.
- Last year my friend hosted a party at their house.

In these examples, the subject is singular yet the pronoun is plural.

Correctly they would read: A person is entitled to his/her own opinions and Last year my friend hosted a party at his/her house.

Correct Examples:

- The people in the band all had their own instruments.
- Several of my friends went home to their houses over break.

In these examples the subject and pronoun are plural.