[cctop]

I really don't get the consternation. Singular "they" was considered proper English 50 years ago, at least in the NJ public schools I attended.

It wasn't considered proper in my California public school, but I put it in the same category as split infinitives or not ending a sentence with a preposition.

Some grammarians are more concerned with rules than with natural English speech.

But in the case of "they", it's actually useful because English has no good solution for when the gender of the subject is unknown.  "He or she" is awkwards, "zie" is artificial.

[cctop]

I really don't get the consternation. Singular "they" was considered proper English 50 years ago, at least in the NJ public schools I attended.

It wasn't considered proper in my California public school, but I put it in the same category as split infinitives or not ending a sentence with a preposition.

Some grammarians are more concerned with rules than with natural English speech.

But in the case of "they", it's actually useful because English has no good solution for when the gender of the subject is unknown.  "He or she" is awkwards, "zie" is artificial.