• SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
    61·
    21 hours ago

    If you just one for one swap you run into weird grammar.

    What do drag want to do?

    Is that right or…?

    • rain_worl@lemmy.world
      41·
      20 hours ago

      same with swapping in ‘they’! i think most pronouns are singular, only ‘they’ is plural due to legacy junk, see:

      • what does he want to do?
      • what does drag want to do?
      • what does the cat want to do?
      • what do they want to do?
      • what do the cats want to do?

      perhaps we should move towards singular they, eg ‘what does they want to do?’

      • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
        1·
        30 minutes ago

        I mean in the instance of directly addressing the person. If you 1 for 1 swap it sounds weird (what do drag), but if you change “do” to “does” it sounds like you’re 3rd personing.

        • rain_worl@lemmy.world
          0·
          3 minutes ago

          i am saying that “he” is the same as “drag” grammar-wise, but neither are like “they”