"What Is Singular They?": Oregon State Guide to Grammar

This video describes the rise of “they” as a singular pronoun, showing how it solves a grammatical conundrum and then comparing it to the transformed usage of “you” in the 17th century. Written and performed by Senior Instructor J.T. Bushnell, it is designed for high school and college students studying grammar, writing, or linguistics.
The School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University sponsors this series. For further explanations of grammar issues and writing tips, please subscribe to the free SWLF TH-cam Channel or visit liberalarts.or.... In the comments section below, feel free to suggest other terms you would like us to cover. Liking, sharing, and commenting on these videos will help us to build a rich digital learning environment around grammar and language.
Below are a few more videos in this series. If there are topics you'd like to see us cover in the future, please let us know in the comments!
"What Is Grammar?": • An Introduction to The...
"What Is a Noun?": • "What Is a Noun?": Ore...
"What Is a Verb?": • "What Is a Verb?": Ore...
"What Is a Subject?": • "What Is a Subject in ...
"What Is a Predicate?": • "What Is a Predicate i...
“What Is a Phrase?”: • "What Is a Phrase in G...
“What Is a Clause?”: • "What Is a Clause in G...
“When to Use Commas”: • "When To Use Commas": ...
“When NOT to Use Commas”: • "When NOT to Use Comma...
“What Is the Oxford Comma (And Is It Really Optional)?”: • "What Is the Oxford Co...
"What Is Passive Voice?": • "What Is Passive Voice...
"What Is Parallelism?": • "What Is Parallelism?"...
"What Is Gender-Neutral Language?": • "What Is Gender-Neutra...
“What Are Dialects?”: • "What Are Dialects?": ...
“What Is Code-Meshing?”: • "What Is Code-Meshing?...
“How to Use a Semicolon”: • "How to Use a Semicolo...
“How to Use a Colon”: • "How to Use a Colon": ...
“How to Use Apostrophes”: • "How to Use Apostrophe...
“What Is a Comma Splice?”: • "What Is a Comma Splic...
“What Is Syntax?”: • "What Is Syntax in Gra...
"What Is Mood in Grammar?": • "What Is Mood in Gramm...
"What Is (AND ISN'T) Standard Written English?": • "What Is (AND ISN'T) S...