Examples of singular "their" etc. from the OED and elsewhere

Entries: they, them, themselves, their, nobody, everyone, everybody, one, each, who, whoever, whoso, Non-OED examples, Examples from Lewis Carroll's Alice books.

Here's a posting, preserved from the antediluvian days of USENET, that gives examples of the singular "their" etc. construction. Some further collating with the first edition of the OED (the second edition contains little if any new material on this topic), as well as the addition of the Lewis Carroll quotes and the entries under non-3rd.-plural-pronoun words, was done by myself (Henry Churchyard, churchh@crossmyt.com):

From: Steven Pemberton
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Message-ID: <6808@boring.UUCP>
Date: 3 Mar 86 17:12:09 GMT

Here we go again. Last June I posted an article quoting the Oxford English Dictionary, and tens of worthy authors through the ages from the 1300's to the present day, who have used `they', `them', `theirs', etc as singular gender-unspecific words. It is correct English. It was only later grammarians who tried to enforce the rule that they are plural words, and force us to use `he', etc. Luckily, most people have not followed their dictates.

Illiterate? Shakespeare was just one of the many to use the form. Let history be the judge. Here are the quotes from the OED again, for the doubters:

• They

  2. Often used in reference to a singular noun made universal by every, any, no, etc., or applicable to one of either sex (= `he or she').

  See Jespersen Progress in Lang. §24.

  • 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 163b, Yf... a psalme scape ony persone, or a lesson, or else yt. they omyt one verse or twayne.
  • 1535 FISHER Ways perf. Relig. ix. Wks. (1876) 383 He neuer forsaketh any creature vnlesse they before haue forsaken them selues.
  • 1749 FIELDING Tom Jones VIII. xi, Every Body fell a laughing, as how could they help it.
  • 1759 CHESTERF. Lett. IV. ccclv. 170 If a person is born of a gloomy temper ... they cannot help it.
  • 1835 WHEWELL in Life (1881) 173 Nobody can deprive us of the Church, if they would.
  • 1858 BAGEHOT Lit. Stud. (1879) II. 206 Nobody fancies for a moment that they are reading about anything beyond the pale of ordinary propriety.
  • 1866 RUSKIN Crown Wild Olives §38 (1873) 44 Now, nobody does anything well that they cannot help doing.
  • 1874 [see THEMSELVES 5].
• Them

  2. Often used for `him or her', referring to a singular person whose sex is not stated, or to anybody, nobody, somebody, whoever, etc. Cf. THEY 2.

  • 1742 RICHARDSON Pamela III. 127 Little did I think... to make a... complaint against a Person very dear to you,... but dont let them be so proud... as to make them not care how they affront everybody else.
  • 1853 MISS YONGE Heir of Redclyffe xliv, Nobody else... has so little to plague them.
  • 1874 DASENT Half a Life II. 198 Whenever anyone was ill, she brewed them a drink.
• Themselves

  5. In concord with a singular pronoun or sb. denoting a person, in cases where the meaning implies more than one, as when the sb. is qualified by a distributive, or refers to either sex: = himself or herself. Cf. THEY 2, THEM 2.

  • 1464 Rolls of Parlt. V. 513/2 Inheritements, of which any of the seid persones... was seised by theym self, or joyntly with other.
  • c 1489 CAXTON Sonnes of Aymon i. 39 Eche of theym sholde... make theymselfe redy.
  • 1533 MORE Apol. 55b, Neyther Tyndale there nor thys precher... hath by theyr maner of expounyng... wonne them self mych wurshyp.
  • 1600 SHAKS. Lucr. 125 Euery one to rest themselues [ed. 1594 himselfe] betake.
  • 1654-66 EARL ORRERY Parthen. (1676) 147 All that happened, which every one assured themselves, would render him a large sharer in the general joy.
  • 1874 DASENT Half a life 3 Every one likes to keep it to themselves as long as they can.
• Their

  3. Often used in relation to a singular sb. or pronoun denoting a person, after each, every, either, neither, no one, every one, etc. Also so used instead of `his or her', when the gender is inclusive or uncertain. Cf. THEY 2, THEM 2; NOBODY 1b. (Not favoured by grammarians.)

  • 13.. Cursor M. 389 (Cott.) Bath ware made sun and mon, Aiþer wit þer ouen light.
  • c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) l, Iche mon in thayre degre.
  • 14.. Arth. & Merl. 2440 (Kolbing) Many a Sarazen lost their liffe.
  • 1533 [see THEMSELVES 5].
  • 1545 ABP. PARKER Let. to Bp. Gardiner 8 May, Thus was it agreed among us that every president should assemble their companies.
  • 1563 WYNGET Four Scoir Thre Quest. liv, A man or woman being lang absent fra thair party.
  • 1641 BEST Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 126 Holes, of that bignesse that one may thrust in their neafe.
  • 1643 TRAPP Comm. Gen. xxiv. 22 Each Countrey hath their fashions, and garnishes.
  • 1749 FIELDING Tom Jones VII. xiv Every one in the House were in their beds.
  • 1771 GOLDSM. Hist. Eng. III. 241 Every person... now recovered their liberty.
  • a 1845 SYD. SMITH Wks. (1850) 175 Every human being must do something with their existence.
  • 1848 THACKERAY Van. Fair xli, A person can't help their birth.
  • 1858 BAGEHOT Lit. Studies (1879) II. 206 Nobody in their senses would describe Gray's `Elegy' as [etc.].
  • 1898 G. B. SHAW Plays II. Candida 86 It's enough to drive anyone out of their senses.
• Nobody

  b. Followed by they, their, or them.

  • 1548 UDALL, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke 94 b, No bodye will receiue you into their house.
  • 1628 tr. Mathieu's Powerfull Favorite 108 No body should dare to stretch out their arme, or present their bosome to receiue him.
  • 1704 N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnas. II. 13 Such Confusion, that no body knew what they were to do, or what to let alone.
  • 1755 WHARBURTON in W. & Hurd Lett. (1809) 201 Nobody has yet written against me, but at their own expence.
  • 1831 WHEWELL in Todhunter Life II. 112 Nobody will know the origin of pliocene, &c., till you tell them.
  • 1856 F. E. PAGET Owlet of Owlst. 9 Nobody likes to be turned out of quarters where they have lived snugly and comfortably for scores of years.
  • 1874 L. STEPHEN Hours in Library III. 333 Nobody ever put so much of themselves into their work.
• 10. Everyone

  c. pron. Everybody; sometimes written as one word. The pronoun referring to every one is often pl.: the absence of a sing. pron. of common gender rendering this violation of grammatical concord sometimes necessary.

  • 1735 JOHNSON tr. Lobo's Voy. 99 Every one Sacrifices a Cow or more, according to their different Degrees of Wealth or Devotion.
  • 1870 DASENT Eventful Life (ed. 4) I. 1 Every one had made up their minds that I was to be one thing, and I came out another.
  • 1877 W. H. MALLOCK New Repub. (1878) 94 Everyone then looked about them silently in suspense and expectation.
• Everybody

  Sometimes incorrectly with pl. vb. or pron.

  • c 1530 LD. BERNERS Arch. Lyt. Brit. 285 Everye bodye was in theyre lodgynges.
  • 1580 SIDNEY Arcadia II. (1613) 156 Now this king did keepe a great house, that euerie body might come and take their meat freely.
  • 1620 Horæ Subsec. 477 To take vpon him the disciplining of euery body for their errours.
  • 1759 BP. WHARBURTON Lett. (1809) 280 Everybody I meet with are full ready to go of themselves.
  • 1820 BYRON Wks. (1840) IV. 298 Every body does and says what they please.
  • 1866 RUSKIN Eth. Dust v. (1883) 82 Everybody seems to recover their spirits.
• One

  21. Any one whatever. Poss. one's, obj. one, reflexively oneself. (The pl. pronouns their, them, themselves were formerly in general use on account of their indefiniteness of gender, but this is now considered ungrammatical.)

  • a 1648 SIR K. DIGBY Priv. Mem. (1827) 239 To whom one giveth love, one giveth also their will and their whole self.
  • Ibid. 255 Hereby one may take to themselves a lesson.
• Each

  3. With reference to a sb.

  • 1678 R. BARCLAY Apol. Quakers xi. §7. 354 Each made it their work to retire inwardly to the Measure of Grace in themselves.

  4. Distributing a plural subj. or obj.

  • c 1510 MORE Picus Wks. (1557) 9/1 Eche of them after their deseruing.
• Who

  6. Any one that: = WHOEVER 2.

  • c 1540 LYNDESAY Auld Man & Wife 199 Wks. 1879 II. 337 Quha wald haif weir, God send thame littill rest. [i.e.``Whoever wants war...'']
• Whoever

  2. No matter who.

  • 1863 MISS BRAUDON Aurora Floyd xxx, Whoever it is, I won't see them to-night.
• Whoso

  1. Any(one) who.

  • c. 1400 MAUNDEV. (Roxb.) iii. 10 Wha so weddes ofter þan anes, þaire childer er bastardes.

Examples from Lewis Carroll's Alice books

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:
  • ``Whoever lives there,'' thought Alice, ``it'll never do to come upon them this size: why, I should frighten them out of their wits!'' So she began nibbling at the right-hand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house till she had brought herself down to nine inches high.
  • ``If everybody minded their own business,'' the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, ``the world would go round a deal faster than it does.''
  • ``Somebody said,'' Alice whispered, ``that it's done by everybody minding their own business!''
• Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There:
  • [White Knight:] ``It's long,'' said the Knight, ``but very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it -- either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else --''

Other quotes (not OED)

King James Version (Authorized Version) translation of the Bible, Philippians 2:3

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Shakespeare

God send every one their heart's desire!
[Much Ado About Nothing, Act III Scene 4]

There's not a man I meet but doth salute me,
As if I were their well-acquainted friend.
[Comedy of Errors, Act IV Scene 3]

Thackeray

No one prevents you, do they?

George Eliot

I shouldn't like to punish anyone, even if they'd done me wrong.

Walt Whitman

...everyone shall delight us, and we them.

Elizabeth Bowen

He did not believe it rested anybody to lie with their head high...

Lawrence Durrell

You do not have to understand someone in order to love them.

Doris Lessing

And how easy the way a man or woman would come in here, glance around, find smiles and pleasant looks waiting for them, then wave and sit down by themselves.

C. S. Lewis

She kept her head and kicked her shoes off, as everybody ought to do who falls into deep water in their clothes.
[Voyage of the ``Dawn Treader'' Chapter I]

Oscar Wilde

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

From: Benoit Evans
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang
Subject: Re: 3rd pers. sg. gender neutral pronoun
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 08:28:07 -0500

The use of plural pronouns as substitutes for non-existant singular gender-neutral forms is not new. Here are some examples through the ages:

• "And whoso fyndeth hym out of swich blame, / They wol come up... (Chaucer, "The Pardoner's Prologue", ca. 1395).
• "And every one to rest themselves betake" (Shakespeare, "The Rape of Lucrece", 1594).
• "...if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses..." (Matthew 18:35, Authorized Version (King James Version), 1611).
• "...every fool can do as they're bid." (J. Swift, "Polite Conversation", 1738.
• "A person can't help their birth" (Thackery, Vanity Fair, 1848).

This was the usage for four centuries until 18th century grammarians decided to change the rules. By the way, the use of one plural pronoun for the singular is universal in modern English: "you" for "thou".

Notes:

"incorrectly":

This minor lapse into prescriptivism in the OED entry for everybody seems to contradict what is said on the preceding page of the dictionary (in the entry for everyone)! The explanation for this apparent discrepancy is that the entry for everybody lumps together two separate phenomena, that of everybody as the immediate subject of a plural verb (e.g. "I think that everybody love John."), and that of everybody indirectly connected with a plural pronoun that refers back to it (e.g. "Everybody loves their own mother."). These two constructions are quite different, and the first is much more marginal (or "incorrect") than the second.