singular they

[sereshka]

   В каких случаях вы считаете оправданным употребление they в значении единственного числа, когда пол человека неизвестен? 

1. Everyone should drive their cars on the right side of the road.
2. A student is expected to turn in their homework.
3. A friend lent me their keys.
4. A LiveJournal friend sent me their condolences. 
5. Dr. Zhu has presented their results at a conference.
6. A paper reported on the discovery made by Frule Mozgol. Their findings are shocking. 
7. Anyone can scratch their noses.
8. When asked about the situation, the politician, who wished to remain anonymous, stated their party position rather than their personal opinion.
9. Hospital records revealed that the kidney was donated by a person named Prikle Tuffinen. Their contribution is sincerely appreciated.
10. Hospital records identified the donor as X. Their contribution is sincerely appreciated.
11. Hospital records indicated that the kidney was donated by an anonymous donor. Their contribution is sincerely appreciated.
12. A lawyer is expected to listen to their client.
13. The paper ran an editorial on the findings of Frule Mozgol. Their journalistic ethics was questionable. 

Comments

[marmir.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, Brits accepted this practice significantly earlier than their Americans counterparts.

1, 7, 11, 12 - Yes
2 - Would rephrase to make the noun plural (students)
3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13 - No, because the sentence suggests that you know the person's gender (even in the case of the anonymous one).
4, 10 - This one is tricky. It doesn't sound right, but is probably OK

Reminds me of the row once in Russian grammar over "общий род", which Akhmatova considered symptomatic of the decline of Russian language.

[sereshka.livejournal.com]

- Could you articulate why 11 is different from 10?
- What if the meaning of 2 is "A student is expected to turn in their homework to me today"? Meaning, I am expecting a particular student to turn something in, but I don't know or do not wish to reveal the gender?
- 3,6,8: Is it the perception that the gender information is obtainable in principle? (I suppose you meant 8 instead of 7.) Interestingly, a grammar manual suggests that 3 can sometimes be acceptable.
- 13: If the sentence could be interpreted as being about the paper (journalists, editor, owner, etc.), i.e. about a number of people rather than a single person who wrote the editorial, would the use of 'their' be acceptable?

[erin-karsa.livejournal.com]

In 5, 6, 9, 13 you may be uncertain of the gender, depending on your ability to infer the gender from the name. Would the assumption that you are not sure if the person in question is male or female change your perception of these sentences?

[sereshka.livejournal.com]

So, what has your experiment with native speakers reveal?

[erin-karsa.livejournal.com]

It revealed that overall they are fine with singular they, provided there is no other way to phrase the sentence or find the gender of the person in question.