>There are some very good suggestions for technical writers, e.g.
No Each user has his own login name and password.
No Each user has their own login name and password.
Yes Each user has a personal login name and password.
The middle option is both gender-neutral and sensible, to all but hidebound prescriptivists.
I missed this message the first few times through the thread. I don't even know exactly what a prescriptivist is, which of course is no evidence that I'm not one.
However, I can say that the second option, while your favorite, is quite jarring to my ears and to the fragmentary, ephmeral insights I think of as my intellect. It just doesn't sound right. Had I learned this method earlier, or had I not learned anything at all, it might seem fine. I would use either the first or the third options. Either grates less. As I alternate (not in a single text) between genders, I might also write "Each user has her own login name and password." (If I were consciously thinking about it; otherwise, I'd probably just use the 'his.')
k
