| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| youth (n.) |
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| meaning “boy,” as in The youth who broke his arm is my grandson, and youths meaning “boys” or “young persons,” as in Those youths are noisy and ill-mannered, are both rather stiff, old-fashioned terms. When youth is used collectively to refer to several persons of either sex, the pronoun reference will be plural (or neuter) and therefore nondistinctive: The youth of America will insist on their [its] being heard. Those youths are likely to get themselves arrested. Youth as an abstract noun, as in She mourns her vanished youth, is unexceptionable in any Standard use. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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