Gender (masculine and feminine language)

English does not have many problems of grammatical gender: people are he or she and things are it.

1   Animals, cars and countries

People sometimes call animals he or she, especially pet animals like cats, dogs and horses.

• Go and find the cat and put him out.

Some people use she for cars, motorbikes etc; sailors often use she for boats and ships.

• 'How's your new car?' 'Terrific. She's running beautifully.'

We can use she for countries, but it is more common.

• He loves Spain — its culture, its history and its civilization.
  (OR . . . her culture, her history . . .)

2 he or she

We can use he or she; him or her; his or her to refer to people like a student or a politician (who can be men or women).

• If a student is ill, he or she must send his or her medical certificate to the College Office.
  

This is heavy, and most people use he/him/his instead of he or she etc.

• A politician has to do what his party tells him

After anybody, somebody, nobody and some other expressions, we often use they/them/their (with a singular meaning) instead of he or she .

• If anybody phones, tell them I'm out.

3 actor and actress


Some jobs and positions have different words for men and women.

Man actor duke bridegroom
Woman actress    duchess   bride

Man host    monk   prince
Woman hostess     nun princess

Man steward waiter widower
Woman stewardess waitress widow

Some words ending in -man have a feminine form

• policeman/policewoman.

Others do not:

• the chairman of a committee can be a man or a woman.

Many people prefer to use words ending in -person for these cases

• chairperson, spokesperson