How to Write Right: He Said? She Said?

He Said? She Said?

One of the vexed questions of modern times is how to handle the third-person-singular pronoun. I refer, of course, to the infamous “he or she” question. In olden days, life was simple. You used “he” and didn’t worry that you were ignoring half the population.

If a writer wishes to become proficient, he should first learn to diagram a sentence.

Nowadays, we can’t do that, nor should we. But the alternative, “he or she,” is awkward, especially if you use it a lot in the same piece. Many people use “they” instead, ignoring subject-verb agreement. Some simply write “she,” as if switching to the feminine form can balance out centuries of literary discrimination, and still others alternate “he” and “she” in the same document, a practice that can make the reader’s head spin.

So what’s best to do? Here are some possibilities:

Use “he or she” if it only comes up once or twice. It only starts to get clunky if you have to do it repeatedly.

Rephrasing is your friend: “Any writer who wishes to become proficient should first learn to diagram a sentence.”

If you’re writing about a group that is identifiably male or female (fathers, suffragettes), you are perfectly justified in using either “he” or “she” as the case may be.

Pluralize! “If writers wish to become proficient, they should first learn to diagram a sentence.”

Mix and match as needed. Each writer has to solve this problem in his or her own way. •