Versus

“They” vs. “He” or “She”

Common English Blunders, Pronouns, Versus

Huge numbers of people use “they” when they should use “he” or “she” instead.

Problem:
The pronoun “they” is not a synonym for the pronouns “he” or “she”.

Explanation:
The pronoun “they” is a plural, third-person pronoun. For example: When the customers called, they complained about having to press several buttons to speak to an agent.

The pronoun “he” is a singular, third-person, masculine pronoun. For example: When the customer called, he complained about having to press several buttons to speak to an agent.

The pronoun “she” is a singular, third-person, feminine pronoun. For example: When the customer called, she complained about having to press several buttons to speak to an agent.

Unfortunately, many people erroneously will use “they” as if it were a synonym for “he” or “she”: When the customer called, they complained about having to press several buttons to speak to an agent.

The problem with this approach is that “the customer” is singular whereas “they” — which refers to “the customer” — is plural.

There are four possible solutions to this problem, which arises when the speaker or writer does not know the sex of the subject:

  1. Use “he” instead of “they”.
  2. Use “she” instead of “they”.
  3. Use “he or she” instead of “they”.
  4. Reword the sentence to avoid having to use a pronoun.

Some feminists object to solution #1, even though the use of “he” as a neuter pronoun was the standard in English (American and otherwise) for decades, if not centuries.

Others object to solution #2, even though some feminists see this as getting even for the long history of solution #1.

Still others object to solution #3. They see it as stilted or awkward, especially when several such sentences exist in a paragraph or set of paragraphs.

Solution #4 suffers from none of these objections, so this is the one that I recommend. For example: The calling customer complained about having to press several buttons to speak to an agent.

Solution:
Use “he” when one knows that the subject is male. Use “she” when one knows that the subject is female. Reword the sentence to avoid having to use a pronoun, when one does not know the subject’s sex.

“All Together” vs. “Altogether”

Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Versus

I often see these used interchangeably.

Problem:
The phrase “all together” and the adverb “altogether” are not synonyms.

Explanation:
“Altogether” is an adverb that means completely, wholly, quite. For example: He’s not altogether certain about his mother’s sanity.

“All together” is a phrase that means in a group. For example: The dogs were all together in the kennel. This can be restated as All of the dogs were together in the kennel. And, without seriously affecting the meaning of the sentence, one can remove the “all”: The dogs were together in the kennel.

I believe that the mistaken use of “altogether” for “all together” — or vice-versa — in writing comes from the fact that “altogether” and “all together” sound alike.

Solution:
Use “all together” in a sentence when one can separate “all” and “together” in the sentence and still get the same meaning or when one can remove “all” without severly affecting the sentence’s meaning. Use “altogether” when one means completely, wholly, quite.

“Historic” vs. “Historical”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Versus

I frequently see one of these used when the other is required.

Problem:
The adjectives “historic” and “historical” are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The adjective “historic” means important in history or well known.

The adjective “historical” means characteristic or pertaining to history, belonging to the past, or concerned with history.

Therefore, all historic events are historical, but all historical events are not necessarily historic.

A “historical house-restoration project” would be a project involving the restoration of a house in such a manner as to be concerned with the history of the house.

In contrast, a “historic house-restoration project” would be a house-restoration project that is noteworthy for the techniques used in the project, for the accomplishments of the project, or for something else important about the project that will be remembered in the future.

Solution:
Use “historical” when modifying a noun or noun phrase so as to relate it to history. Use “historic” when modifying a noun or noun phrase so as to relate it to something important in history.