Pronouns

[jack]

"When John was a woman, [he/she/they] said '...' " Which pronoun do you prefer? (That is, "he" is appropriate for John now, "she" would be appropriate for what John was then, and "they" would specify the ambiguity.)

"The things God or Jesus [was/were] recorded as saying are ..." Which pronoun do you prefer? (That is, do you treat them as two separate people (were)? Or one person (was)? :))

Obviously both are arbitrary, and I think both sufficiently specialised that most people wouldn't mind which you used, I just wondered if anyone had a strong opinion :)

Comments

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

For the first one, I definitely wouldn't use 'they' (I only use that for when you don't know whether you're talking about a male or female - or, you know, for plurals), and would probably use 'she' because of the time reference. I hope John wouldn't mind if he were listening.

For the second one, it depends on the kind of 'or'. If you genuinely didn't know which of God or Jesus said the things but knew that one of them did and the other didn't, I don't see how you could use 'were' at all. I mean, whether or not you see God and Jesus as separate, the 'or' makes it singular, doesn't it? I'd say 'Bodie or Doyle is gorgeous' rather than 'Bodie or Doyle are gorgeous', and this would definitely imply that the gorgeousness didn't apply to both of them[1].

The thing is, what exactly would you mean in the 'God or Jesus' phrase? I assume it would be used if you were talking about things that God said, some of them perhaps as Jesus (of course, this is where it gets theological!) - and in that case, I wouldn't use 'or', I'd use 'and'.

Did any of that make sense (apart from the fangirlish bit)? :)

[1] They *are* both gorgeous, but I fancy one more than the other ;)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

"and" would probably be better, but it's complicated (I know if I try to make an unarguable example, I'll miss :)).

How about, "The children Bodie or Doyle sire are beautiful?" Again 'and' also works, but I think 'or' works too?