Why is “They” a common alternative pronoun to he/she, considering it works for a single individual in some contexts, but in others it sounds like multiple people. “They’re watching a movie” or “they went to a concert” for example.

Question

Why is “They” a common alternative pronoun to he/she, considering it works for a single individual in some contexts, but in others it sounds like multiple people. “They’re watching a movie” or “they went to a concert” for example.

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Answer 1

I think it’s mainly because the English language doesn’t have a gender neutral singular pronoun, so “they” is used instead.

There have been other words that have been tried (like “thon”, they+one), but they’ve never caught on.