Question

If someone comes tell ______ to wait for a while. her them Cambridge and Oxford grammarians say that we often use the plural pronouns ‘they’, ‘them’, ‘their’ etc., to refer back to (singular) someone or somebody when we do not know if the person is male or female, despite the fact that they are referring back to a singular noun: Never judge someone by the way they look.; A researcher has to be completely objective in their findings.; Someone has forgotten their handbag. Or we can say ‘Never judge someone by the way he or she looks.’; A researcher has to be completely objective in his or her findings.; Someone has forgotten his or her handbag. Some people object to the use of plural pronouns in this type of situation on the grounds that it’s ungrammatical. In fact, the use of plural pronouns to refer back to a singular subject isn’t new - it dates back to the 16 th century and now it’s common in current English and it is now widely accepted. The American Heritage College Dictionary’ recommends to use ‘he or she’ when you are writing a formal document.In the test sentence ‘If someone comes tell ______ to wait for a while.’ that is the example of the oral speech we need to choose the pronoun that is the object of the sentence: ‘…tell (whom?) ______ to wait…’. Therefore, we need to choose ANSWER 4 (them).

Accepted Answer

he him d

Question	If someone comes tell ______ to wait for a while.
A	he
B	her
C	him
D	them
Answer	d
Remark	Cambridge and Oxford grammarians say that we often use the plural pronouns ‘they’, ‘them’, ‘their’ etc., to refer back to (singular) someone or somebody when we do not know if the person is male or female, despite the fact that they are referring back to a singular noun: Never judge someone by the way they look.; A researcher has to be completely objective in their findings.; Someone has forgotten their handbag. Or we can say ‘Never judge someone by the way he or she looks.’; A researcher has to be completely objective in his or her findings.; Someone has forgotten his or her handbag. Some people object to the use of plural pronouns in this type of situation on the grounds that it’s ungrammatical. In fact, the use of plural pronouns to refer back to a singular subject isn’t new - it dates back to the 16 th century and now it’s common in current English and it is now widely accepted. The American Heritage College Dictionary’ recommends to use ‘he or she’ when you are writing a formal document.In the test sentence ‘If someone comes tell ______ to wait for a while.’ that is the example of the oral speech we need to choose the pronoun that is the object of the sentence: ‘…tell (whom?) ______ to wait…’. Therefore, we need to choose ANSWER 4 (them).

Back Plural Pronouns Wait Refer Singular Judge Researcher