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    Of course you can! Rephrasing the sentence to use "one" generally makes for clearer sentences and better writing, and is fully keeping with the intent of inclusivity and respect. There's nothing "antiquated" about "one". Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 6:58
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    What Cody said is correct - Kate touches on examples of gender-neutral language on this great answer. This is about gender-neutral writing. On the other hand, there are people who have they/their as their personal pronouns, so when referring to them in the third person, please respect their stated pronouns as you would normally with he or she. Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 7:01
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    "One" isn't antiquated so much as it just serves a different linguistic function. For example, if you say that "User123 has a problem. They ought to ask about it on Meta.", then "They" is directly referencing "User123". By contrast, if you say that "User123 has a problem. One ought to ask about problems on Meta.", then you're not really referring to "User123" as "One" so much as you're making a generalized statement about a hypothetical "One", with the strong implication that User123 ought to observe it. (To be clear, this seems entirely reasonable.) Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 7:16
  • Perhaps I should just remove 'antiquated' from the header. I do feel it's a bit "Spitting Image, Queen of England" & it's not something I would normally use in conversation, though I'm comfortable using it in writing. I'm also aware that the purpose it serves is different to 'they' - in particular that it is a generalisation, rather than a specific single person. Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 7:25
  • @CesarM "so when referring to them in the third person, please respect their stated pronoun" you referred to Cody's comment but the post from Tetsujin contained more examples. Can you make the change from "Asfgl decided they were going shopping" to "Asfgl decided to go shopping" (a reason might be that it might make it more clear, but it would be a case of conspicuously omitting 'they' when Asfgl has preferred pronoun 'they/their'). Is omitting a pronoun 'they' when it becomes confusing due to the conflict with plural 'they' considered as a violation? Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 11:07
  • So it becomes confusing. Cody says "of course you can" but you say "no you can not when you need to respect preferred pronouns." Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 11:10
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    With a pronoun 'he' and 'she' one actually also avoids using them in cases when there are two males or two females. If Alice and Bob refer to he and she, then the sentence "Alice and Bob went shopping. He bought shoes" works and 'he' is not being avoided. But in the case "Alice and Bob went shopping. They bought shoes" (and one of Alice or Bob associates with 'they') one might consider to avoid using the pronoun 'they'. So this is not a case of using 'they' as normally for others pronouns 'he' and 'she'. Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 11:15
  • I find "one" tends to be a better alternative for "you" -- students write "when you're flunking a class, you should..." when they mean "people in X situation, which is kinda like me, so I assume it's everyone maybe?" So at the VERY least I advise them to switch it to "one" ("When one is flunking a class, one should...") but ideally change to a descriptive noun phrase that more accurately captures the key characteristics ("When a transfer student is flunking a class..."). Students can use plural ("When transfer students... they should" if their other teachers don't accept singular-they. Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 13:42
  • I admit, I find singular-they awkward for drafting, but I ALSO find plural you awkward, and write "y'all" if I mean multiple people ("Can one of y'all review...") and "all y'all" to mean everyone addressed ("can all of y'all give me reactions..."). But when I revise, I check to see if "he or she" (or "he" or "she") could be a "they," (or if my audience doesn't grok "singular-they", then pluralize the sentence), and if "y'all" could be "you," and if "all y'all" can become "all of you, including you, Lex." I don't do MEGA-proofreading here, but I try to scan for comprehensibility and tone Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 13:47
  • Note - I'm not saying singular-they is bad, it's just less-familiar to me (I'm Gen-X), and in my workplace, a government agency, not accepted in documentation. I tend to use "Students" or "Users" instead of "Guys" as my gender-neutral collective term. (My friends are called "Peoples" most often: "peoples - any of y'all going to the [event]?" and "Hello, Writing Peoples" to start my podcast.) Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 13:51
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    @April - personally, not being from the US, I find y'all sends out some bizarre Beverly Hillbillies-type connotation. It's simply never used in speech in the UK, it's only ever heard on TV. I kind of get what it means, but it doesn't feel like a natural part of language, it seems a filler, an adjunct; similar to how some people put "like" in front of ideas that simply don't require it. Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 13:52
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    And since I'm from just-barely south of the Mason-Dixon line (Maryland, with some school in VA), y'all just feels so dang useful! But definitely casual. Yet it fills the linguistic gap we created when "you" subsumed "thou" (or is it the other way around?) Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 14:00
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    @SextusEmpiricus That is fine, the CoC says that you should use pronouns as you would use them normally on sentences, meaning, if you'd put a he or she there, use other stated pronouns too. You don't have to do it all the time, and clarity is fine, but if you're talking about one person and it's not confusing, them don't conspiciously avoid it when there's no need. The biggest thing here is: don't misgender people intentionally. Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 14:05
  • @CesarM - & I'm happy with that. My post wasn't any kind of 'complaint' in any way, merely a 'hey, folks, we could use this as well'. Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 14:15
  • @cesarM this 'intentionally' might be needed to be specified more clearly in the FAQ. Currently it seems to me that If I feel a need to avoid using 'they' or a neopronoun and avoid their use (but not intentionally in order to misgender a person, or deny their gender) then this is not considered to be allowed. The issue with Monica also still has a lasting impact in understanding these explanations/FAQ. She got demodded but not for having no need to avoid a specific pronoun. Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 14:56