Many people use “they” as a singular noun. But “they” is plural.

English does not have a good way to solve this problem but on the next few slides we will see some alternatives.

Instead of:

If the user wants to save as HTML they can click “Save

as web page.”

Write:

If the user wants to save as HTML he or she can click

“Save as web page.”

Instead of:

If the user wants to save as HTML they can click “Save as web

page.”

Write:

If the user wants to save as HTML he or she can click “Save as

web page.”

This is not convenient when you have to write it many times. Some authors prefer to only use “he” or only use “he”. This

may give the reader the feeling that the writer is talking only about men or only about women.

Unfortunately, there is no good way to solve this problem.

Instead of:

If the user wants to save as HTML they can click “Save

as web page.”

Write:

If one wants to save as HTML one can click “Save as

web page.”

Instead of:

If the user wants to save as HTML they can click “Save

as web page.”

Write:

If one wants to save as HTML one can click “Save as

web page.”

It will sound strange if a paper uses the word “one” in this way many times so don’t use this too often.

Hans Anderson 2007-Present: Lecturer at FPT Greenwich

Programmes, FPT University. 2007: M.S., Computational Mathematics,

University of Minnesota 2001: B.A., Computer Science, Gustavus

Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN