Singular They: Is or Are

personal pronouns auxiliary verbs they be

'Singular they' is a relatively new personal pronoun that has been introduced in modern English. It's singular, but are we suppose to use singular verbs or not?

We use singular 'they' in two ways:

when we want to refer to a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant;
when we want to refer to a person who doesn't (want to) identify as either male or female.

When you use 'they' as the subject, whether you use it as a 'singular they' or 'plural they', ALWAYS use a plural verb.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion. They are free to choose.

Kathrin is a non-binary person. They are a student, and live in Atlanta.

Though we are talking about one person, but we are using the singular 'they'. Therefore, we use the plural verb 'are' not 'is'.

Comments

It vs. He and She

'It', 'she', and 'he' are personal pronouns that show person and number. 'He' and 'she' also show gender. Read this article to know these three pronouns.

We vs. Us

'We' is a subject pronoun used as the subject of sentences. 'Us' is an object pronoun used as an object in a sentence. But can they be interchangeable?

We vs. They

'We are the working class.' 'They are the upper class'. We use 'we' to refer to a group we feel belonged to and use 'they' when we feel a social distance.

They vs. Them

'They' and 'them' are both third-person plural pronouns and refer to plural nouns. But what is their main difference? Let's find out!

They, Singular or Plural

Is 'They' a singular or a plural pronoun? The answer to this question used to be so easy. We would've said yes. But it's more complicated than that.

They vs. Their

'They' and 'them' are both refer to a group of people, but they function differently in a sentence because they take different grammatical roles.

Download LanGeek app for free

Langeek