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Its vs. His or Hers 

grammatical genderhershisitspossessive pronouns
"Its" vs. "His" or "Hers" in the English Grammar

What Causes the Confusion?

One of the recent controversies in the grammar world is gender-neutral language. It means to use language in a way that includes both males and females and non-binary people equally and in the same way.

What Did We Use to Refer to People?

In the past, people used 'he', 'him', 'his' etc. as a generic pronoun to refer to people in general (regardless of their genders).

Example

Everyone is to be held responsible for his actions.

Others used 'his or her' or 'he or she' to be more specific in including both genders into their writing.

Example

Everyone is to be held responsible for his or her actions.

What Is a Generic Pronoun to Refer to People?

So, to solve this problem, they have introduced a new gender-neutral pronoun called the singular 'they'. It can be a generic pronoun and refer to people in general or a person who does not want to be referred to as a 'he' or a 'she'.

Example

Everyone is to be held responsible for their actions.

But Can We Use Its instead of 'His' or 'Hers'?

The simple answer is no. You cannot use 'its' to refer to human beings. 'Its' mostly is used to refer to things and animals. The only case we refer to humans by 'its' is when we want to:

1.

refer to babies

2.

refer to a collective noun such as a committee, group, team etc. (in American English)

Example

The baby picked up its pacifier.

The committee has managed to voice its proposal. (Mostly AmE)

The committee have managed to voice their proposal. (Mostly BrE)

Comments

(3)
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Patrick
Apr 2024
Is it ‘a person, spending its time ..’ then? Thank you and Best regards Patrick
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Langeek
Apr 2024
The phrase "a person, spending its time …" is incorrect because "its" is usually used for objects or animals, not people. Instead, you should use "their" for a person, like this: "A person, spending their time …" This way, the pronoun is correct for referring to a person.
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Feb 2024
Thanks, it was very helpful to read the explanation of when one might use its instead of his.
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