yes, I know, I'm disservicing Sparrow by referring to the character as a he, but what else am I going to use?
I actually know someone who's writing a paper on this. :) (Not on Emma Bull in particular, just on this question.) I've heard that 'they' was correctly used as being a substitute for 's/he' in the grammar of Shakespeare's time, although I haven't done enough Elizabethan reading to check on this. S/he is a (possibly annoying) option if you're writing as opposed to speaking. There's a number of proposed gender-neutral pronouns that are floating around, such as se/sie (/see/) or ze/zie (/zee/). Then there's hir (/heer/), which I can't help but think of as an object pronoun, but I don't know what the corresponding subject pronoun would be.. Gender-neutral pronouns are useful for referring to people who claim a third-gender (or no gender) identity, and I think some intersexuals prefer to be referred to this way as well.
I LOVE Bone Dance. It's my favourite Emma Bull book, and possibly the first one I read. I like the
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Ursula K. Le Guin made mention in an essay somewhere that "them/them/etc" used to, indeed, be perfectly acceptable usage for gender neutral and/or singular usage (for example, when you want to talk about a person generally and not assign a gender). But for whatever reason, that's been taught as BAD even though it isn't nor should it be.
But in my review, using "they/them/etc" didn't feel right. Not sure why.
I've only read this one and War for the Oaks once, and after first reading, I'll admit War for the Oaks is my favorite, but that may change with time and second readings. :)
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I actually know someone who's writing a paper on this. :) (Not on Emma Bull in particular, just on this question.) I've heard that 'they' was correctly used as being a substitute for 's/he' in the grammar of Shakespeare's time, although I haven't done enough Elizabethan reading to check on this. S/he is a (possibly annoying) option if you're writing as opposed to speaking. There's a number of proposed gender-neutral pronouns that are floating around, such as se/sie (/see/) or ze/zie (/zee/). Then there's hir (/heer/), which I can't help but think of as an object pronoun, but I don't know what the corresponding subject pronoun would be.. Gender-neutral pronouns are useful for referring to people who claim a third-gender (or no gender) identity, and I think some intersexuals prefer to be referred to this way as well.
I LOVE Bone Dance. It's my favourite Emma Bull book, and possibly the first one I read. I like the ( ... )
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Ursula K. Le Guin made mention in an essay somewhere that "them/them/etc" used to, indeed, be perfectly acceptable usage for gender neutral and/or singular usage (for example, when you want to talk about a person generally and not assign a gender). But for whatever reason, that's been taught as BAD even though it isn't nor should it be.
But in my review, using "they/them/etc" didn't feel right. Not sure why.
I've only read this one and War for the Oaks once, and after first reading, I'll admit War for the Oaks is my favorite, but that may change with time and second readings. :)
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