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

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

I think at least some people would say that John never *was* a woman, he was just acting the part of one.

Depends on the exact person of course, but - yeah. Could you not instead say

"When John was living as a woman, [he/she] said... " which I think makes the decision easier?

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

(oh bum, I screwed up my html).