Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[welkins2139]

The usher insisted that everyone take their ticket out.

The usher insisted that everyone take his/her ticket out.

Are they OK?

Thank you

[Anuradha Chepur]

'Everyone' is singular. So your first sentence is not ok.

[asterix]

It used to be the rule that you would always use his after everyone, but then came the women's liberation movement, and the guardians of political correctness found that just too awful to be allowed to continue.
Now, apparently you are supposed to say his or her, or even their.
However their is grammatically incorrect, and should not be tolerated by anyone who cares about the language.
Personally I always still use his and to h e l l with political correctness.

[CP]

I have to say I agree with asterix, although I often say or write "his or her" when the person's sex is not known. "Their" instead of "his" or "her" or "his or her" never stops grating on the ears. It's particularly bothersome when the sex of the person is known: "Every girl in class received their diploma." AAAH! They're all girls ... say "her diploma," for heaven's sake.

All right. Who wants the soapbox next?
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[James.E]

We Chinese people who speak Mandarin never catch such a botheration. We pronounce our "his" and "her" the same way, sounding like "ta de". And in writing, when the sex is not known, it is a usual way to replace "ta de" with other words or expressions suitable to the context. Those words are easy to choose. And I wonder that why native English speaker do not take a substitution for "his or her"? Thers is no such words or people just do not willing to do so?
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Marx says that a foreign language is a weapon in the struggle of life.

[asterix]

It could be written, The usher insisted that they should all take their tickets out.

[MrPedantic]

The use of "their" for "his or her" (or where the sex of the referent is unimportant or unknown) is well established. It's by no means a new usage; it dates from at least the 13th century, and can be found in the works of many significant writers:

1. A person can't help their birth. (Thackeray)
2. It's enough to drive anyone out of their senses. (Shaw)
3. Everyone sacrifices a cow or more, according to their different degrees of wealth or devotion. (S. Johnson)
4. Everybody seems to recover their spirits. (Ruskin)
5. If everybody minded their own business, the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, the world would go round a deal faster than it does. (Carroll)
6. God send every one their heart's desire! (Shakespeare)
7. Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. (Wilde)
8. At Christmas everybody invites their friends about them, and people think little of even the worst weather. (Austen)

MrP

[CP]

Too bad they didn't have this Web site back in the day.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Anuradha Chepur]

I was wondering if we could say:

The usher insisted that everyone take one's ticket out.

('one' is a pronoun too)

[MrPedantic]

Hello Anuradha

Usually pronominal "one" means "someone", "any person", or "I, you, or anyone" in such contexts; whereas here, it would refer back to "everyone". Thus "one" expresses "an individual person", whereas "everyone" expresses "all people".

So it doesn't seem entirely idiomatic to me) though other members may disagree).

MrP

[Anuradha Chepur]

Perhaps MrPedantic.

[lotus]

Hi welkins2139,

In answering your question, everyone did their share.


--lotus

[welkins2139]

Thank you all very much!