I’m not a native speaker, but as far as I understood, for singular objects and animals “it” was used. Why use “they” for individual people then?
In: 1400
Just a separate, but related note to this.
There is a common incorrect history that gets put forward whenever the topic of “they” as a singular pronoun comes up.
It goes like this: “the word ‘they’ has been used as a singular pronoun for six hundred years! Chaucer and Shakespeare used it as a singular. ‘They’ has always been singular.”
This narrative ignores the fact that from the 18th century to the early 21st century, there was a distinct effort to only use “they” as a plural form. I’m not saying that this is the best usage of the word, but this is how the word was used and this was how it was taught in English classes. English naturally evolves. It evolved past the use of the singular “they” and now, it has reverted back to this usage.
This is not a comment on the modern use of “they.” “They” is considered an inclusive way to refer to individuals across the gender spectrum in the singular form, and I agree with its modern usage 100%. But the narrative I described in my second paragraph is often used to make people who learned English in the 20th century feel like they’ve been incorrect their entire lives. They were not incorrect. The meaning has reverted back to an older usage of the word.
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