Editing Singular they (section)

===Prescription of generic ''he''===
''He'' has been used with antecedents of indeterminate gender since the [[Old English]] period,<ref>{{Cite OED|he|1054698830}}</ref> as in the following:

{{blockquote|"If ''any one'' did not know it, it was ''his'' own fault."|author=[[George Washington Cable]]|source=''Old Creole Days'' (1879);{{sfn|Cable|1879}} quoted by Baskervill & Sewell.{{sfn|Baskervill|Sewell|1895 |loc=§409}}}}
{{blockquote|"''Every person'' who turns this page has ''his'' own little diary."|author=W. M. Thackeray|source=''On Lett's Diary'' (1869);{{sfn|Thackeray|1869|p=189}} Baskervill & Sewell, ''An English Grammar''.{{sfn|Baskervill|Sewell|1895 |loc=§410}}}}

The earliest known explicit recommendation by a grammarian to use the generic ''he'' rather than ''they'' in formal English is [[Ann Fisher (grammarian)|Ann Fisher]]'s mid-18th century ''A New Grammar'' assertion that "The ''Masculine Person'' answers to the ''general Name'', which comprehends both ''Male'' and ''Female''; as, ''any Person who knows what he says.''" (Ann Fisher{{sfn|Fisher|1750|p=106 in 1780 printing}} as quoted by Ostade{{sfn|Ostade|2000}})

Nineteenth-century grammarians insisted on ''he'' as a gender-neutral pronoun on the grounds of [[agreement (linguistics)|number agreement]], while rejecting "he or she" as clumsy,{{sfn|Bodine|1975|p=133}} and this was widely adopted: e.g. in 1850, the British Parliament passed an act which provided that, when used in acts of Parliament "words importing the masculine gender shall be deemed and taken to include females".{{sfn|Miller|Swift|1995|p=46}}{{sfn|Warenda|1993|p=101}} Baskervill and Sewell mention the common use of the singular ''they'' in their ''An English Grammar for the Use of High School, Academy and College Class'' of 1895, but prefer the generic ''he'' on the basis of number agreement.

Baskervill gives a number of examples of recognized authors using the singular ''they'', including:

{{blockquote|"''Every one'' must judge according to ''their'' own feelings."|author=[[Lord Byron]]|source=''Werner'' (1823),{{sfn|Byron|1823|p=vi}} quoted as "''Every one'' must judge of [sic] ''their'' own feelings."{{sfn|Baskervill|Sewell|1895|loc=§411}}}}
{{blockquote|"Had the Doctor been contented to take my dining tables as ''any body'' in ''their'' senses would have done&nbsp;..."|author=[[Jane Austen]]|source=''[[Mansfield Park]]'' (1814);{{sfn|Austen|1814|p=195}}{{sfn|Baskervill|Sewell|1895|loc=§411}}}}

It has been argued that the real motivation for promoting the "generic" ''he'' was an androcentric world view, with the default sex of humans being male&nbsp;– and the default gender therefore being masculine.{{sfn|Bodine|1975 |p= 133}} There is some evidence for this: Wilson wrote in 1560:

{{blockquote|"...&nbsp;let us keepe a naturall order, and set the man before the woman for manners sake."|author=Wilson|source=''The arte of Rhetorique'' (1560);{{sfn|Wilson|1560|p=167}}}}
{{blockquote|"...&nbsp;the worthier is preferred and set before. As a man is set before a woman&nbsp;..."|author=Wilson|source=''The arte of Rhetorique'' (1560);{{sfn|Wilson|1560|p=208}}}}
And Poole wrote in 1646:
{{blockquote|"The Masculine gender is more worthy than the Feminine."|author=Poole|source=''The English Accidence'' (1646);{{sfn|Poole|1646|p=21}} cited by Bodine{{sfn|Bodine|1975|p=134}}}}

In spite of continuous attempts on the part of educationalists to proscribe singular ''they'' in favour of ''he'', this advice was ignored; even writers of the period continued to use ''they'' (though the proscription may have been observed more by American writers).{{sfn|Leonard|1929|p=225}}{{sfn|Bodine|1975|p=131}} Use of the purportedly gender-neutral ''he'' remained acceptable until at least the 1960s,{{sfn|Fowler|Burchfield|1996|p=358}} though some uses of ''he'' were later criticized as being awkward or silly, for instance when referring to:{{sfn|Merriam-Webster|2002|p=735}}
* Indeterminate persons of both sexes:
{{blockquote|"The ideal that ''every boy and girl'' should be so equipped that ''he'' shall not be handicapped in ''his'' struggle for social progress&nbsp;..."|author=[[C. C. Fries]]|source=''American English Grammar'', (1940).{{sfn|Fries|1969|p=215}}}}
* Known persons of both sexes:
{{blockquote|"She and Louis had a game&nbsp;– who could find the ugliest photograph of himself."|author=Joseph P. Lash|source=''Eleanor and Franklin'' (1971){{sfn|Lash|1981|p=454}}}}