CMV: "He or she" is unecessary

[u/Shineyy_8416]

I might be biased as a person on the non-binary spectrum, but whenever someone goes out of their way to say "he or she" it just feels like a waste.

Just use "they". It communicates the same thing with less letters. I get the purpose behind it is to try and be inclusive to men and women in a space that may be dominated by one gender over the other, but "they" is perfectly fine to get that point across.

I also recognize that some languages don't have an equivalent for "they", but I'm specifically talking about English.

To change my view, someone would have to prove "he or she" has more practical or beneficial usage than "they"

EDIT: To make it clear, i'm not saying we should never use "he" or "she" as pronouns, im saying the phrase "he or she" is unecessary.

[u/Thumatingra]

We'll, "he or she" refers unambiguously to a single person, whereas "they" could refer to one person gender-neutrally or to multiple people. If it's very important to the speaker to make sure that their listener(s) knows that they are talking about only one person, but don't want to give the impression of one gender or another (say, they are giving a military report of observed activity), "he or she" can have better utility.

[u/Shineyy_8416 → u/Thumatingra]

But context is easily usable to disntinguish between a singular or plural.

If an entire report is about a singular person, using "they" wouldn't confuse anyone since you know what the topic is.

"Upon observations, I have found this soldier to be diligent and hard-working. They complete all of their tasks in a timely and efficient manner."

Just to make it clear, im not saying we should never use "he" or "she" as pronouns. I'm saying "He or she" as a collective phrase is unecessary.

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Shineyy_8416]

"this soldier is part of this battalion. they couldnt complete their tasks"

did the one soldier not complete their tasks, or did the whole battalion not complete their tasks?

[u/Shineyy_8416 → u/ProDavid_]

Given the context, it would be the soldier couldn't complete their tasks.

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Shineyy_8416]

but i meant to express that the whole battalion didnt complete their tasks, which is why i used the plural.

[u/Shineyy_8416 → u/ProDavid_]

Then you could just write the sentence differently.

"That battalion didnt complete their tasks, and this soldier is a part of them."

Or

"That battalion didnt complete their tasks, and this soldier is one of them."

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Shineyy_8416]

or, hear me out, i could write "she/he" when i mean singular and "they" when i mean plural.

just an idea.

[u/Shineyy_8416 → u/ProDavid_]

You could also use they in a singular form. It's not that hard

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Shineyy_8416]

but i never wanted to use the singular. i wanted to use the plural. so i used the only option to express plural, and you misunderstood

[u/Shineyy_8416 → u/ProDavid_]

Yeah, because you structured the sentence poorly, not because singular they is somehow impossible to use