In the not-too-distant past English used the pronoun “him” to refer to individuals of unspecified gender in phrases such as “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion.” This understandably annoys some people, who prefer “Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion” or some other alternative. Sometimes the problem can be avoided by making the antecedent plural, as in “All people are entitled to their own various individual opinions.” Another option is to adopt a sort of jump-ball rotation, alternating betwe
A lot of people use a singular “they,” as in “Everyone is entitled to their opinion.” This draws the obvious objection that it’s improper to have a plural pronoun refer to a singular antecedent.
The best defense I’ve yet read of the singular “they” is on the Oxford English Dictionary blog here . It points out that the singular “they” has been used for centuries, and moreover, there’s a good case to be made that a singular they is no more objectionable than the singular “you.” Quoting the blog post: