Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
Yes, I’m aware of that Chris, but does it not depend on the context in which it is used? In the 1375 example, it sounds right, but if you say, for example:
‘Dolores put on her shoes and then they walked away’,
it sounds decidedly odd, as if the shoes were walking away (which I suppose they were, really!  |
I’m quite sure you weren’t aware, otherwise why would you call something ungrammatical when you knew it isn’t? You got caught out, plain and simple. And, the 1375 example isn’t just a historical curiosity. The third person pronoun (sex unknown) is part of the present definition in the Oxford dictionary.
Your example of Dolores is silly. You know her sex because you call her “she”, so you would not in the same sentence also call her “they”.