Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
Well, if Ban were a man or a woman, I agree that it would be incorrect. But this is in the context of Ban being neither a man nor a woman.
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It's one thing to argue that the plural pronoun is acceptable to avoid a clunky construction (e.g.,
Everybody stay in their seats, rather than
Everybody stay in his or her seat)--that may be where the language is heading, even if it makes some of us shudder. But to use the plural to denote an entity that is clearly singular is just wrongheaded. Ban should be referred to as
it, or the author should make up a word.
If one is worried that
it makes Ban seem to be a robot or object of some sort, what does
they do? Since this is science fiction,
they might make the reader think that Ban is some two-for-one creature or other multiple entity.