[continued from previous message]   
      
   > Hamlet : In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses "them" to refer to "mother": "'Tis meet   
   that some more audience than a mother â¤? Since nature makes them partial â¤?   
   should o'erhear the speech". "Them" is used here to refer to "mother" as a   
   general type of person,   
    not a specific individual.   
   > Literary device: Writers have used the singular "they" to conceal gender or   
   to make a point about gender roles. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare   
   uses "they" in the line, "To strange sores, strangely they straine the cure,"   
   where "they" is a    
   singular pronoun for a general concept or condition.   
   >   
   > HTH   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)