ESL Editing

The American Dialect Society has named the singular "they" Word of the Year. An example is, "If anyone needs a great editor they can email me at [email protected]." "Anyone" is singular, but "they" is plural.

I spend a lot of my time as an editor trying to rewrite sentences to avoid having to choose between "he or she" which is awkward, "they" which is grammaticaly incorrect, or the inclusive "he" to mean "he or she", which is really not very inclusive at all.

Even though the singular they is becoming more prevalent, I still recommend avoiding it in academic writing. Try rewriting the sentence to make the subject plural -- "Those who need a great editor can email me at [email protected]" -- or rephrase completely -- "Email me at [email protected] if you need a great editor."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/08/donald-trump-may-win-this-years-word-of-the-year/

Sorry, grammar nerds. The singular ‘they’ has been declared Word of the Year. The Word of the Year has been announced.

If you can't find the word you want in English, this website gives you some great phrases in other languages. http://betterthanenglish.com/

Better Than English: Untranslatable Words Each day we post a new, untranslatable word from around the world.

For those working on dissertation, "summer" just means the weather's a bit warmer during those few minutes you walk from the library back home. http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1804

PHD Comic: Things you can do in Academia that would get you fired in the Real World Link to Piled Higher and Deeper

"The first English printing press, in the 15th century, was operated by Belgians who didn’t know the language and made numerous spelling errors (such as "busy" in place of "bisy"). And because they were paid by the line, they sometimes padded words with extra letters; "frend," for example, became "friend.""

I only know how to spell "friend" because Mister Rogers sang it to me every afternoon after school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98wVFsIt-MQ

You are my friend you are special Mr Rogers To all my friends. :) and because I grew up watching and loving Mr. Rogers... :)