From: jadej.clayton@gmail.com   
      
   On Friday, October 27, 2000 at 7:04:12 PM UTC-8, Weston Firerunner wrote:   
   > If my history serves me right, the use of 'their' as an ungendered   
   alternative to   
   > the use of 'his' or 'her' was standard practice up until maybe a century   
   ago. I   
   > don't know the exact date when it was deemed that it was no longer   
   acceptable for   
   > such use, but I prefer using it so that I don't step on anyone's toes if I'm   
   > unsure of the specific gender.   
   > "David Formosa (aka ? the Platypus)" wrote:   
   > > On Thu, 26 Oct 2000 13:08:26 -0700, Richard Chandler - WA Resident   
   > >  wrote:   
   > >   
   > > >I think your example proved my point. They, Them, and Their, all imply   
   more   
   > > >than one. They're PLURAL. With sniper being singular, there's an obvious   
   > > >number disagreement.   
   > >   
   > > However if you say the sentence it doesn't feel wrong and people   
   > > understand what you mean, so it is grammatical.   
   > >   
   > > >My dictionary actually does list Their in the usage you prefer (The word   
   used   
   > > >for gender is Indefinite or Definite), however, it has a big honking   
   > > >"Nonstandard" in front of it.   
   > >   
   > > And my dictionary doesn't say that its nonstandard, I think that we   
   > > can regard this as a place where your dialect American english and   
   > > mine Strine differ.   
   > >   
   > > --   
   > > Please excuse my spelling as I suffer from agraphia. See   
   > > http://dformosa.zeta.org.au/~dformosa/Spelling.html to find out more.   
   > > Free the Memes.   
   What happened   
      
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