Posted by: Daniel Carrera
on December 09, 2004 08:22 AM
The problem here is that English is a gender-biased language.
The best solution is to rephrase the sentence in such a way as to avoid a third person pronoun entirely.
Using non-words like "s/he" or incorrect grammar is neither the purpose, nor the effect of gender-neutral writing. It is almost *always* possible to rewrite the sentence without using "he" and without making up words.
For example:
Original:
"After the user enters his login name, he is prompted by his password".
Rewrite 1: (use the second person)
"After you enter your login name, you are prompted for your password".
Rewrite 2: (third person, but no pronouns)
"After entering the login name, the user is prompted for a password".
Rewrite 3: (changing the subject)
"After entering the login name, the system prompts for the password".
Rewrite 4: (passive voice)
"The password prompt appears after the login name is entered".
Rewrite 5: (procedural, second person)
"First enter your login name, then your password".
If you'd like to learn more about gender-neutral writing, take a look at the Editing Primer from the OpenOffice.org User Guide project:
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
Re:Dividing Humanity
Posted by: Daniel Carrera on December 09, 2004 08:22 AMThe best solution is to rephrase the sentence in such a way as to avoid a third person pronoun entirely.
Using non-words like "s/he" or incorrect grammar is neither the purpose, nor the effect of gender-neutral writing. It is almost *always* possible to rewrite the sentence without using "he" and without making up words.
For example:
Original:
"After the user enters his login name, he is prompted by his password".
Rewrite 1: (use the second person)
"After you enter your login name, you are prompted for your password".
Rewrite 2: (third person, but no pronouns)
"After entering the login name, the user is prompted for a password".
Rewrite 3: (changing the subject)
"After entering the login name, the system prompts for the password".
Rewrite 4: (passive voice)
"The password prompt appears after the login name is entered".
Rewrite 5: (procedural, second person)
"First enter your login name, then your password".
If you'd like to learn more about gender-neutral writing, take a look at the Editing Primer from the OpenOffice.org User Guide project:
http://www.oooauthors.org/groups/authors/userguid<nobr>e<wbr></nobr> /contributorresources/editing_primer_v0.1.sxw
Cheers,
Daniel Carrera.
OpenOffice.org volunteer.
#