It is going to happen in vernacular speech, and is accepted as are some other grammatical faux pas in that context, but that does not make it correct, nor acceptable in academic writing.

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firman consensus facit

'E said' instead of 'he/she' said

Or 'er thing' instead of 'his/her thing'

They is just weird. Better to invent something new than to bastardize something with an already existing function, especially if that function is almost opposite what we're trying to make it do.

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It is my deepest wish that we will one day escape our cradle.

Personally, I could not care less regarding the usage of "they". English is the language I love the least (except perhaps French) out of the ones I can speak, so I am not inclined to ponder much about such issues in it. I am fine both with "one" and with "they".
Language changes, that cannot be disputed, and some 'ungrammatical' things are slowly becoming the norm, whether we like it or not.
The only question in it is whether the language change is a progress or decay.

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Religion which you consider an opiate and wish to abolish
May be the only anaesthesia that enables the masses
To deal with the terrors of existence.

For most of my classes, the gender neutral singular form is "ze". However, I go to a very progressive university which also has non gender specific bathrooms for our intersexed or transgendered students and are moving to gender neutral housing for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. In general, the best way to phrase it is "he or she".

In colloquial English, they is fine but it still grates on my nerves as being blatently wrong.

we
you
they

i think that "they" can also be used as a singular non-gender-specific pronoun when used to describe a specific unknown person. if you are not talking about a specific person, then "one" should be used.

for example
"if the narrator says 'i am 17', they mean that they are 17 years old."

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"if 'practice makes perfect' and 'no one's perfect' then why practice?"

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I do agree, you are right though, Language does change. 'Diss' is now in the dictionary.

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And thou is never used.

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On a seperate note, is it possible to put 3 words together? Eh... that's unclear. For example

You Would Have been none the wiser
You'd've been none the wiser

I don't think its proper, but I think it sounds good. :\

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Quote: from porcelain at 12:35 am on Sep. 27, 2006

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No.  

 It just doesn't sound right whne you use it as one.  

 gender-neutral plural pronoun.. yes. Not singular, though.  

  
 If I'm not understanding the point of your post, sorry.

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I messed up the word.  

I mean the context of, "They have a book."
Instead of, "He/she has a book."

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Strictly speaking, if "they" is a gender neutral singular pronoun, it would be "They has a book", not "They have a book" (which is gender-neutral plural).

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Quote: from Spasty at 12:40 am on Sep. 27, 2006

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Quote: from porcelain at 12:35 am on Sep. 27, 2006

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No.  

  It just doesn't sound right whne you use it as one.    

  gender-neutral plural pronoun.. yes. Not singular, though.  

     
  If I'm not understanding the point of your post, sorry.

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 I messed up the word.  

 I mean the context of, "They have a book."  
 Instead of, "He/she has a book."  

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Strictly speaking, if "they" is a gender neutral singular pronoun, it would be "They has a book", not "They have a book" (which is gender-neutral plural).

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Not at all. Regardless of what it stands for, "to have" is conjugated as "have." Always. You can't change that.

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