NPR reporting style guide
Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 4:23 pm
Reading this NPR article , one sentence stood out -
Came across this interesting viewpoint on Stack Exchange.
I presume that this was a deliberate choice by the (male) journo (rather than an incorrect autocorrect for a misspell of 'their'). I couldn't find anything online regarding this specific instance in the NPR writing style guideline. I know there is a long tradition of using the masculine term in such circumstances (see link below), but for some reason I liked the use of 'her' in this context.How will this change real estate commissions ?
For decades, the norm in this country has been for the person selling a home to pay both her own agent and the buyer's agent.
Came across this interesting viewpoint on Stack Exchange.
Traditionally, male examples are used in English. The example person is a "he" and that is that. In English, the human race is traditionally called "mankind", a person fallen off a ship is "man overboard", tending to your job is "manning your post" and so on.
However, that kind of speaking and writing tends to make women feel excluded. So this is why we use he or she for some unspecified person, or they.
But here is another strategy you can use in writing. Simply use masculine pronouns in some examples, and feminine ones in others. In some sections of the document, make the user female and use she and her (consistently: do not change the user from being a he in one sentence to a she in a related sentence):
The user can determine her name.
Then in some other sections, make the user he. This way you can avoid creating a sense that women are included, while avoiding repetitions of his or her, and without resorting to they and their. Moreover, compared to using they, you create a more active sense that women are included.
Although using plural third person pronouns like they and their to refer to a single person is widespread and acceptable, it does not sound quite as good as using as singular pronoun for one person. At least, subjectively speaking, not to everyone.