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Originally Posted By: BranShea"Whoever is going to win it'll change their lifes"
is the sentence I hear in a coocking-contest program where dozens of people are determined to change their ordinary lifes for stressy Masterchef heaven.
Every time I hear it I wonder about this construction.
Is whoever considered as singular or plural considering the "their" later on in the sentence?
The use of they/their as an epicene pronoun for the third person singular in English is nearly a millennium old. I learned that here. A written history dating back 700 years or so apparently means it is much too newfangled and recent an innovation to be allowed by "style manuals".
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Whoever is going to win BranShea 02/04/09 10:42 PM Re: Whoever is going to win tsuwm 02/04/09 10:54 PM Re: Whoever is going to win The Pook 02/04/09 11:08 PM Re: Whoever is going to win latishya 02/04/09 11:26 PM Re: Whoever is going to win zmjezhd 02/04/09 11:41 PM Re: Whoever is going to win Faldage 02/05/09 01:03 AM Re: Whoever is going to win Zed 02/05/09 07:19 AM Re: Whoever is going to win BranShea 02/05/09 10:35 AM Re: Whoever is going to win Faldage 02/05/09 12:01 PM Re: Whoever is going to win tsuwm 02/11/09 08:09 PM Re: Whoever is going to win zmjezhd 02/11/09 11:14 PM Re: Whoever is going to win tsuwm 02/12/09 12:18 AM Re: Whoever is going to win Faldage 02/12/09 12:36 AM
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