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tontonmenmen
19 apr 2021

  • Giapponese
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)
Domande Inglese (Stati Uniti)

Qual è la differenza tra More appropriate interpersonal communication between a teacher and their students are required. e More appropriate interpersonal communication between a teacher and his/her students are required. ?Sentiti libero di rispondere con un esempio.

I've learned the form of "between a (human) and his/her (noun)", but have never seen the form of "between a (human) and their (noun)".... If you could tell me the difference, that would be most helpful. :)
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ronaldfedora
19 apr 2021

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)
  • Indonesiano

"between a (human) and his/her (noun)"

is correct

"between a (human) and their (noun)"

is wrong

because...

"a human" is singular, "their" refers to something owned by "they" which is plural. A human and his/her possession is possible, but a human and their possession is wrong in English.

If you want to use "their", you should follow this example sentence:

The children and their clothes are all dirty. (children is plural)

Edit：
also,
"More appropriate interpersonal communication between teachers and their students is required."

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us4gi
19 apr 2021

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

They mean the same thing.

The first is spoken. We avoid saying "his" or "her" if we don't know the person's gender, by using "they/them/their" even when talking about one person.

The second one is written. It's more proper to say, but it's longer, and people are lazy when they speak.


Side note: It should also be "is required" instead of "are required", because the subject (the thing being required) is "communication", singular.

Utente esperto
tontonmenmen
19 apr 2021

  • Giapponese
@us4gi Thank you for the clarification and pointing out the wrong Be verb. Now I remember "they" is used nowadays in the unknown gender case. Thank you! 😊
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ronaldfedora
19 apr 2021

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)
  • Indonesiano

@us4gi

This is actually the first time I learned that they can refer to a singular gender-neutral pronoun. Thank you for pointing that out, as a fellow English speaker I learned something new today. It got me curious and eventually I read this article for more information

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/s...

Quoting from the article:
"There have always been people who didn’t conform to an expected gender expression, or who seemed to be neither male nor female. But we’ve struggled to find the right language to describe these people—and in particular, the right pronouns. In the 17th century, English laws concerning inheritance sometimes referred to people who didn’t fit a gender binary using the pronoun it, which, while dehumanizing, was conceived of as being the most grammatically fit answer to gendered pronouns around then. Adopting the already-singular they is vastly preferable."

What I'm not sure is: is the "singular" they can be used every time you do not know someone's gender, or when you deliberately want to avoid labeling their gender, because *ehrm* they do not conform to either gender?

The above article seems to emphasize the latter.

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us4gi
19 apr 2021

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@ronaldfedora From what I understand, there are new nonbinary pronouns like "ze" that were created because "they" is already in popular use to talk about someone who IS binary but whose identity (and hence their gender) isn't known.

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Qual è la differenza tra More appropriate interpersonal communication between a teacher and their students are required. e More appropriate interpersonal communication between a teacher and his/her students are required. ?
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