| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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5. Gender: Sexist Language and Assumptions
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| § 14. alternating he and she |
| Some writers switch between he and she in alternating sentences, paragraphs, or chapters. This practice has been gaining acceptance. You see it especially in books about child development (where the need for a generic pronoun is pervasive) and in academic journals, where you might see a passage such as The researcher should note that at this point in the experiment she may need to recheck all data for errors followed later in the same section by The researcher should record his notes carefully at this stage. At first glance, you might find this cumbersome, but if the context clearly requires generic pronouns, alternating between he and she can offer a balanced way of proceeding. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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