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From: lee@dsi1.UUCP (Lee Hagerty)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Grammar and Spelling on the Net
Message-ID: <544@dsi1.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Mar-86 15:32:46 EST
Article-I.D.: dsi1.544
Posted: Wed Mar 19 15:32:46 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Mar-86 06:05:36 EST
References: <235@pttesac.UUCP> <33100034@ISM780.UUCP>
Reply-To: lee@dsi1.UUCP (Lee Hagerty)
Distribution: net
Organization: Dynamic Systems, Inc., Arlington VA
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In article <604@mmm.UUCP> mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR) writes:
>>>
>>>	"Each person does as they think best."
>>>
>	But, but, but... You're saying that you don't care what the 
>authoritative sources say (can we agree on the OED as an authoritative 
>source?), *you* think it's wrong, so there! Hmmmm. I think the
>point is that, according to the OED, the pronoun and the antecedent
>*do indeed* agree.

Obviously, I care what authoritative sources state, or I wouldn't have 
responded.  I have never used the OED as a source of correct grammar.  If
the OED states that the pronoun and the antecedent in the above example
do agree, I'd say that's good reason not to rely on the OED for correct
grammar.  "Person" is singular as is "does."  "They" is plural as is
"think."  It's obvious the pronoun and its antecedent do not agree.

>	"Each person does as he thinks best."
>
>	Does each person do as (he the person) or (he some other person)
>thinks best? The ambiguity is not the fault of disagreeing plurality.

This second example is not ambiguous, because the pronoun and its
antecedent agree.  "He" refers to "person," according to my authoritative
sources.  My sources are:  _Errors in English and Ways to Correct Them_
by Harry Shaw, _Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English_ by
Maxwell Nurnberg, _Handbook of Good English_ by Edward Johnson, _The
Careful Writer_ by Theodore Bernstein, and _Modern American Useage_ by
Wilson Follett.  So there! (;->}

Lee