I recently had a professional edit a book I had written (patiently waiting for a publisher, btw), and one consistent remark in the manuscript margins was, “you have persistent pronoun confusion.”
What he meant was that I would write about two separate female characters in one sentence, and in the next, would write, “she ate a salad.” The editor said, “who is she?”
Besides being an existential question, it is “pronoun confusion.”
I thought about this the past several years as “what is your pronoun?” came to be a debate/conversational topic; he/him,she/her, they/them.
I am unapologetically pro-gay, but also unapologetically straight, so I found the discussion confusing. My confusion comes from my background of trying to get grammar correct, using it according to rules and norms I’d read. I’ll leave questions to others about such subjects of trangenderism, binary/non-bianary and yes, the use of pronouns. My characters will continue to be he, she, him or they (singular).
I realize now that language is consistently changing and probably always will.
Now, can we talk about the subject of cursive writing? Where did it go? Should I be happy because my cursive is ugly anyway? Will kids be able to read anything I hand-wrote in hundred years? And, why would they want to?
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