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14-Apr-2008, 03:59
| | Newbie | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Country: United States
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Current Location: Gladstone, MI First Language: English Thanks: 3
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| |  His or Her
I play a card game called Magic: the Gathering and I just had a question.
An example of my question is this card that states, "Target player puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard."
My question has to do with the his or her part. Since they are before a singular noun, you have to use his or her instead of their, right?
Or are they only saying his or her to make sure women and men are noticed? |
14-Apr-2008, 04:14
| | Newbie | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Country: United States
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Current Location: Gladstone, MI First Language: English Thanks: 3
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| | His or Her
I play a card game called Magic: the Gathering and I just had a question.
An example of my question is this card that states, "Target player puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard."
My question has to do with the his or her part. Since they are before a singular noun, you have to use his or her instead of their, right?
Or are they only saying his or her to make sure women and men are noticed? |
14-Apr-2008, 04:41
| | Member | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Country: Russia
Posts: 258
Current Location: Komsomolsk-on-Amur First Language: English Thanks: 27
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| | Re: His or Her
Pronouns 'His' or 'her' are identity of a player, who takes part in the game. You can, also, use a pronoun 'their' as in the sentence: 'Target players put their top card of their library into their graveyard.' But, in this case, there is no strict identity at all.
Any time,
Sincerily,
Pinkgreat |
14-Apr-2008, 06:04
| | Key Member | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Country: UK
Posts: 2,767
Current Location: UK First Language: English Thanks: 2
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| | Re: His or Her
I think they are using 'his or her', both times, for absolute clarity of instructions. If we say: "Target player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard."
The first 'their' would refer to 'target player'; but is the second 'their' referring to someone else's graveyard pile (a 'someone' referred to in a previous sentence), or some collective 'graveyard' pile of cards, that is, those discarded by all the players of the game into one pile?
To say, "Target player puts the top card of their library into his or her graveyard." is just getting too damn complicated.
Much better to spell it out - 'his or her' |
14-Apr-2008, 06:17
| | Key Member | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Country: UK
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| | Re: His or Her
This is a double post, repeated at 5.15.
Please don't.
When your original is answered satisfactorily by another respondent, then someone else wastes their time repeating it in the duplicate post. | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes |  Linear Mode | 
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