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This article is about the English personal pronoun. For other uses, see They (disambiguation).
They (IPA: /ðeɪ/) is a third-person, personal pronoun (subject case) in Modern English.
| Singular | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Object | Reflexive | Subject | Object | Reflexive | ||
| First | I | me | myself | we | us | ourselves | |
| Second | you | you | yourself | you | you | yourselves | |
| Third | Masculine | he | him | himself | they | them | themselves |
| Feminine | she | her | herself | ||||
| Neuter | it | it | itself | ||||
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Usage
The "singular" they is the use of this pronoun, where they is used as a gender-neutral singular rather than plural pronoun. The correctness of this usage is disputed.
Etymology
| Singular | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Object | Possessive | Subject | Object | Possessive | ||
| First | I | me | mi(n) | we | us | ure | |
| Second | thou | thee | thy | ye | you | your | |
| Third | Impersonal | hit | it/him | his | he they |
hem them |
hir their |
| Masculine | he | him | his | ||||
| Feminine | sche | hire | hir | ||||
They "The People"
Taken from "You know what "they" say..."
- "They" refers to the masses of those who are among the pop culture. "They" quote sayings of individuals who could put complex events in to understandable context; believing that what "they" have just quoted would justify an event or action which had just occurred.
- "They" may also refer to the government or society at large, such as when a paranoid conspiracy theorist proclaims "They're out to get me, man" or "They're watching me right now."
The logical position against this usage is based on the principle of methodological individualism - the obvious fact about the reality of humans that various actions such as "thinking", "saying", "feeling", "knowing", "believing" or any other physiological functions can only be done by individual humans.
See also
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