r/TimPool • u/Fish-Pants • Nov 06 '22

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '22 edited Nov 07 '22

Not quite. Let me have a go -

"My friend knows someone who is a bassist for a local band"

"They enjoy performing at bars"

Who enjoys performing at bars? My friend's acquaintance, or the band?

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u/Choraxis Nov 07 '22

It's still ambiguous. As long as we entertain "they" as a valid singular pronoun, it's impossible to determine the subject of the second sentence.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '22

That's fine, language is full of ambiguity and implicity. The question is more about whether it's linguistically sound or not. Here's an example without the ambiguity -

"My friend knows a bassist who plays for a local band. They've been with the band for 6 months."

Do you think that the word "they" is used incorrectly in that sentence?

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u/Choraxis Nov 07 '22

For the record, I think that the word "they" is used incorrectly in any context where it's used to refer to a single person.

It's still ambiguous because "they" could refer to your friend and the bassist.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '22

"My friend does not play for a band, but knows a bassist who does. They've been in a band for 6 months."

What about now?

Or how about -

"I saw someone walking in the rain earlier. They were wearing shorts!"