“Personal Pronouns in present-day English” by Katie Wales

A book about the politics and grammar of pronouns.

Enough isn’t spoken about grammar in context. A model sentence is picked from a book deemed apt by dynasties of grammarians and it is then prescribed pedantically for eons, with any dissenting opinion cast aside. No one seems to check whether the world which governs grammar (and not the other way around) has changed.

Take the status of “his/him/he” as a ‘universal’ pronoun.

I have lost count of times my answer paper has been circled for deploying ‘he/she’ or my preferred single-person ‘they-them’ when describing a person not specified or marked for gender. Such is the universal prevalence of the pronoun that a friend of mine when she first encountered the word ‘she’ in a book, thought it to be a typo.

Think I am over-exaggerating? What gender came to your mind when I first mentioned ‘friend’ in the previous paragraph?

Perhaps the following statement by Penelope in 1994 best encompasses this gender divide amidst pronouns-

“…in English all persons are assumed to be male unless otherwise specified. Far from being unmarked, he is in fact quite marked.”

My answers were marked too, often incorrectly. This book amends that injustice, for a bit.

Pronouns for Specific Purposes

The book provided both a surprising and amusing survey of the diverse and creative purposes for which pronouns are used in English.

Take the use of Royal ‘We’ by British monarchs. Queen Victoria is purportedly said to have declared “We are not amused” referring to only herself and her purported displeasure at a matter. Given how few Brits colonized how many countries, perhaps the plural royal ‘We’ is the closest we will get to collective accountability.

Then there’s the Medical ‘We’ and ‘I’ as in “How are we feeling today?” and “If I were you, I’d take a lot of fluids and rest.” Instances like these pepper the book in plenty. Corporate ‘We’ “At ABC we treat our customers like family” is likewise amusing, especially when you realize that the LLC which follows the names of most corporations starts with “Limited Liability”. Who takes liability for pronouns though?

In particular, what about those instances of pronoun usage like Vehicular ‘She’ as in “She gives mighty good mileage” where suddenly the need for a universal pronoun appears to diminish. More frequently seen on the other end of the spectrum is the supposed sexism in “You guys”.

For the latter, I prefer ‘y’all’ as in “Have y’all subscribed to my newsletter?”

The Politics of Pronouns

When I brought up pronouns for the first time in a grammar class I taught where I provided adequate examples for it to be taught in context, one of my students expressed joy at having a ‘woke’ teacher.

When did optimum grammar get a political colour? Turns out it happens all the time.

This is why I smirk at the phrase ‘present-day’ given in this book. While written in 1994 and expected to address issues around pronouns at the turn of the century, it is quite interesting that the biggest update regarding pronouns has come during contemporary times.

The transgender movement and intersectional issues between gender-identity and language usage (like preferred pronouns) are not mentioned in this book as it is a relatively newer issue.

What you can’t deny though, is the political leverage that pronouns carry. Apart from obviously giving the individuals they refer to a sense of acceptability, pronouns define opposition to such changes as well. Jordan Peterson’s founding moment was a piece of legislature about (amongst other things) pronouns. Some comedians like Dave Chapelle have taken a dark turn with their content on pronouns while some toe the thin line of comedy quite well with their content commenting on the issue.

Katie Wale’s book did not anticipate such a turn but I’m sure grammarians will figure it out. Having said that, the most recent red circle on my use of ‘they’ was by a grammarian. Interestingly, this book which was published before I was born advocated for the normalization of the singular ‘they’ to solve the politics of 'universal unmarked ‘he’. Oh well. Language ought to make room for identity rather than the other way around.

Regardless of your pronouns, do read my newsletter. I would ask you to read this book but the technicality of Modern English Grammar and the linguistics-specific register of words may prove challenging.

I hope you read well and deeply before my next Sunday morning update. Won’t you?