Singular “they” is a gender-neutral pronoun which is nowadays used to refer to people who do not identify themselves as either male or female. Not only did this relatively new usage of the pronoun “they” cause a lot of controversy discussion among linguists, but it also induced (dis)approvals among the entire English speaking world. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, singular “they” has been used in the English language since the 13th century, but it referred to people whose gender was unknown or not significant for the context, as in one of Emily Dickinson’s letters: “Almost anyone under the circumstances would have doubted if [the letter] were theirs, or indeed if they were themself.”
On the contrary, the new usage of “singular they”
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grammatically incorrect, and thus unacceptable. According to the author of the article The Singular “They” Must Be Stopped, every pronoun exists for a reason, which is to specify a certain person. Thus to this, “they” cannot be used in the singular form to replace pronouns such as “he” or “she”, because it is not grammatically correct. He refers to this new usage as people’s laziness to make up a new pronoun which would be used for denoting people who do not want to identify themselves as male or female. Moreover, “they” is a collective pronoun, which certainly does not individualize a person, and as such, it should be used in plural. The fact that everyone is using it as singular does not mean that it is correct, and it certainly does not mean that we cannot be creative and make up a new pronoun which would be convenient for everyone (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/singular-their-affront-good-writing/319329/). Another suggestion would be to use the person’s name instead of a pronoun, or simply reword the sentence so that it does not need a pronoun (Easton, …show more content…
The English language is constantly evolving, new words are emerging, and new grammatical concepts are being applied. The usage of “singular they” is accepted by many because it allows people to choose how they want to be called. In his article “Stupidity on Singular They”, Owen (2016) reacts to Gelernter’s article in the National Review, where the latter argues that “singular they” is illiterate and grammatically incorrect for the English language already has a gender neutral pronoun, i.e. he. He relies on Webster’s Second dictionary, whose last edition was published in 1934. Thus to this, Owen sharply criticizes the article and states that it has been proven that the usage of the pronoun he immediately induces people to think of a male person, thus creating gender inequality. The “singular they” is the only solution to this problem, for the respect is shown through language, as well as through
Emily Dickinson in her poem anthology had many, varied attitudes towards many questions about both life and death. She expressed these in a great variety of tones throughout each of her poems and the speaker in these individual poems is often hard for the reader to identify. In many of her poems, she preferred to conceal the specific causes and nature of her deepest feelings, especially experiences of suffering, and her subjects flow so much into one another in language and conception that it is often difficult to tell if she is writing about people or God, nature or society, spirit or art. Dickinson was a very diverse poet, constantly having hidden meanings and different poetic schemes in her poems, she was all over the place. In many
Although many people do not like to admit it, labeling others is part of the mind’s subconscious, whether it be sexually, racially or by gender. In many aspects, society has taken great leaps towards eliminating stereotyping. Some literature that was written centuries ago such as Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, still contains stereotypical gender roles, while others such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey reflect changes in society. Literature throughout history demonstrates that gender roles are evolving and become an issue of the past.
..., for example, “gender is either boy or girl”; “you cannot change what you already are”. Accordingly, Hage and Ruzylo are trying to explain that no matter what there will always be people judging a unique or different person; this judgement can later cause the homosexual and transgendered people to be stuck between two different genders. Stephanie from the documentary explains; “when ordering something at a store while wearing a dress, they still call me sir or Mr.” Even though she wants to be treated as a woman and she even changed her appearance to be viewed as a woman, people are still determined that she is a man. The public’s confusion makes the transgender lose her identity; there is nothing more she can do to prove that she is a woman. Furthermore, the young boy says that people would call him “she, he, they” because they are not sure of what they are seeing.
Clive Thompson’s article “He and She: What’s the Real Difference?” poses the controversial question that various millennials have been debating for years: “What the heck is gender, anyway?” (365). For a large number of people, gender exists as a social divide solely based on whether an individual is anatomically and biologically male or female; nevertheless, there are those who argue that gender involves more than what anatomy and biology offer. Regardless of the perspective, gender affects how one behaves both privately and publicly, appears in social and private settings, communicates with others, and above all, uses language for literary purposes. Thompson’s writing observes the experiment of Bar-Ilan University’s professor, Moshe Koppel.
West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender and Society, I (2), 125-151.
This article of clothing is way too thin to be worn especially since it is in the night time and provides no warmth.
Critical analysis “A man would never set out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male. But if I wish to define myself I must first of all say: ‘I am a woman’. This truth must be based on all further discussion. A man never being by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man. The terms masculine and feminine are used symmetrically only as a matter of form, as in legal papers.
...ation of men and women to the reader; we accept the cliché’s and gender-roles as the collective standard.
Emily Dickinson was a polarizing author whose love live has intrigued readers for many years. Her catalog consists of many poems and stories but the one thing included in the majority of them is love. It is documented that she was never married but yet love is a major theme in a vast amount of her poetry. Was there a person that she truly loved but never had the chance to pursue? To better understand Emily Dickinson, one must look at her personal life, her poems, and her diction.
Emily Dickinson is a self-described "Nobody". Although she wrote thousands of poems, most of them were not published during her lifetime. Born in the 19th century, she was extremely well educated for a woman of her time, and she attended school from primary school up to her first year of college, when she ultimately left for unknown reasons. This allowed her to explore her love of the sciences and nature, especially botany. Despite having many friends, whom she kept in touch with through letters, she became a recluse during her later years, which scholars now suspect was caused by mental conditions such as agoraphobia, depression, or anxiety. However, her years of seclusion led to the creation of hugely imaginative and thought provoking poems.
Reading a poem by Emily Dickinson can often lead the reader to a rather introspective state. Dickinson writes at length about the drastically transformative effect a book may have upon its’ reader. Alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, Dickinson masterfully uses the ballad meter to tell a story about the ecstasy brought by reading. In poem number 1587, she writes about the changes wrought upon the reader by a book and the liberty literature brings.
...y doing this, they take the power away from these words, and force others to look at them for who they are, rather than as an epithet shouted out in anger. Their interactions with each other, through music, zines, and community-based connections with one another plays a significant role in helping them determine for themselves who they are as people. This in turn affects the way they present themselves as gendered beings to the rest of the world.
Literary Analysis of Emily Dickinson's Poetry. Emily Dickinson is one of the most famous authors in American history, and a good amount of that can be attributed to her uniqueness in writing. In Emily Dickinson's poem 'Because I could not stop for Death,' she characterizes her overarching theme of Death differently than it is usually described through the poetic devices of irony, imagery, symbolism, and word choice. Emily Dickinson likes to use many different forms of poetic devices and Emily's use of irony in poems is one of the reasons they stand out in American poetry. In her poem 'Because I could not stop for Death,' she refers to 'Death' in a good way.
Emily Dickinson, a radical feminist is often expressing her viewpoints on issues of gender inequality in society. Her poems often highlight these viewpoints. Such as with the case of her poem, They shut me up in Prose. Which she place herself into the poem itself, and address the outlining issues of such a dividend society. She is often noted for using dashes that seem to be disruptive in the text itself. Dickinson uses these disruption in her text to signify her viewpoints on conflictual issues that reside in society. From the inequality that women face, to religion, to what foreseeable future she would like to happen. All of her values and morales are upheld by the dashes that Dickinson introduces into her poems.
there gender. The word “Gender” should be used less and less and individuals should be