That person....their

Steve K   Sunday, November 21, 2004, 18:17 GMT
To avoid using the awkward "his/her" can you use "their" in the following way?

I like a person who sticks to their principles.
Denis   Sunday, November 21, 2004, 19:01 GMT
How about one's/own?

I like a person who sticks to one's principles.
I like a person who sticks to own principles.
Easterner   Sunday, November 21, 2004, 22:19 GMT
I would rather use a plural: "I like persons who stick to their principles". Or, if in the singular, "I like if one sticks to one's principles". Using "their" with a subject in the singular seems equally awkward to me as "his/her".

Denis,

As I know "own" is always used after a possesive pronoun. Thus, it could be "I like if one sticks to one's own principles" or "persons who stick to their own principles".
David Winters   Sunday, November 21, 2004, 22:22 GMT
Political Correctness != Grammar Rule

Or in other words, just use "He". Doing so is not sexist or insensitive, and only communists (or mjd) would tell you otherwise.
Steve K   Sunday, November 21, 2004, 23:03 GMT
Languages do evolve. In some languages the plural has come to mean the singular. You (English), vous (French) etc.. Voce (Portuguese) which I think is the second person plural but I believe takes the third person singular verb form in Brazil and means the second person singular, if you follow. And that is the standard usage in a country of 180 million people, unless I am mistaken.

So why not "The person who likes their coffee with sugar."
mjd   Sunday, November 21, 2004, 23:27 GMT
If a person wants to just use "he," more power to him/her.

David is wrong to assume I'm a communist, but I'm pretty comfortable with my assumption that he's a fool.
D   Monday, November 22, 2004, 02:30 GMT
Native speakers of English in the U.S. have no consensus about
whether to say 'he' as a generic pronoun, and no consensus about
what else to use. The most common way to avoid using
'he' is to use 'they.'

A non-native speaker has better things to worry about,
unless they are taking a grammar test (oops, look there...).
Then, the safest thing is to use 'he' as a generic pronoun.
In practice, you will not be misunderstood in the US if you
use 'they.'
Jim   Monday, November 22, 2004, 02:51 GMT
Steve's example is fine. We use this type of expression all the time. Language does evolve. No grammatical rule was ever set in stone.

1) I like a person who sticks to their principles.

Denis's suggestions don't work.

2) I like a person who sticks to one's principles.

This would mean the same thing as "I like a person who sticks to my principles." Hey, that may well be exactly what you want to say but it doesn't mean the same as (1).

3) I like a person who sticks to own principles.

Now, I'm afraid that this is meaningless. As Easterner points out "own" always comes after a possesive pronoun. You can't replace the possesive pronoun with "own". Thus using "own" doesn't solve the problem (if it is a problem). The word might be used for emphasis.

Easterner suggests:

4) I like persons who stick to their principles.
5) I like persons who stick to their own principles.

The word "persons" is best reserved for legal language or other formal language where the distinction between "persons" and "people" must be drawn. In normal every day English use "people".

6) I like people who stick to their principles.
7) I like people who stick to their own principles.

He also suggests:

8) I like if one sticks to one's principles.
9) I like if one sticks to one's own principles.

There's something missing in these sentences. Here's how they should be.

10) I like it if one sticks to one's principles.
11) I like if one sticks to one's own principles.

Then, on the other hand, David Winters is quite right when he says that it "is not sexist or insensitive" to use "his".

12) I like a person who sticks to his principles.

Though, for the life of me I can't fathom what it's got to do with communism.
Jim   Monday, November 22, 2004, 02:58 GMT
Typo:

11) I like it if one sticks to one's own principles.

In short:

1) fine
2) different meaning
3) wrong
4) formal/legal
5) formal/legal
6) fine
7) fine
8) wrong
9) wrong
10) fine
11) fine
12) fine
D   Monday, November 22, 2004, 12:09 GMT
The best advice may be to use the style recommended by the
Chicago Manual of Style, which doesn't allow you to use
'they' as a singular pronoun, but encourages you to
rewrite your sentences to avoid using 'he' as a generic
pronoun at all.

I continue to argue that this is a non-issue for
language learners, since it's hard to be misunderstood just
because you replace 'he' with 'they.' There are more critical
things to worry about, like the missing words in Easterner's
sentences above.
rtwe   Sunday, November 28, 2004, 04:36 GMT
erter
Tiffany   Monday, November 29, 2004, 22:48 GMT
Jim writes:

"2) I like a person who sticks to one's principles.

This would mean the same thing as "I like a person who sticks to my principles." Hey, that may well be exactly what you want to say but it doesn't mean the same as (1). "

I disagree with this (and I'm a native english speaker). One refers to "a person" not always yourself, although it is used as a generalization and you could very well be the person you are talking about when you say "one". It is not a given though, so "one" is a person.

I do concede that the above expression is awkward, but DOES mean the correct thing even though it is not used. In english, I use either "his" or "their" in place of "one's"

From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
------------------------
Main Entry: one
Function: pronoun
1 : a certain indefinitely indicated person or thing <saw one of his friends>
2 a : an individual of a vaguely indicated group : anyone at all <one never knows> b -- used as a third person substitute for a first person pronoun <I'd like to read more but one doesn't have the time>
------------------------

a supports my reasoning, b supports Jim's but I wanted to point out it can be used as BOTH cases, so therefore it is correct.
Jim   Tuesday, November 30, 2004, 00:14 GMT
Tiffany,

You're correct to say that "one" refers to "a person" not always yourself. However, consider the sentence in question: "I like a person who sticks to one's principles." The subject of the sentence is "I". The sentence is about the speaker/writer (it tells you what he likes).

The person who sticks to his principles is the object but he's not an individual of a vaguely indicated group. The group is well defined: it's the set of all people who stick to their principles. I don't see Webster's definition 2a supporting what you write, Tiffany.

In this particular sentence I cannot see how the "one" could refer to anyone else than the speaker/writer. Normally the "one" in such a sentence would refer back to the subject.
Tiffany   Tuesday, November 30, 2004, 01:36 GMT
Maybe I just take the sentence differently than you do. I can't understand how it could be seen that "one's" in this case stands for "my". I would never talk about "my" possessions using the pronoun "one's".

If I said "My car is my prized possession" - this would mean only I feel this way.

On the other hand, if I said "One's car is one's prized possession" - this means that I feel that everyone else prizes their car and probably - so do I. of course you must listen to tone in this sentence.

Take for example the 2b sentence in MW <I'd like to read more but one doesn't have the time> - I've always understood "one doesn't have time" to refer to a vague group that the person is included in as in - in this busy world (which I am a part of) a person does not have time to read all he likes.

I've always seen "one" as a third person and therefore "one's" as a third person pronoun. Therefore, in the original sentence "2) I like a person who sticks to one's principles." "one's principles", refers to the principles of a third person which is "person" not "I". So in my opinion it is correct, though not a sentence I'd use.
Jim   Tuesday, November 30, 2004, 03:42 GMT
What if you'd said "My car is one's prized possession."?