I Dislike Plural Subject Pronouns Referring to Singular Nouns

Trust your reader; they have a brain too.

Your reader / they — this is common in writing.

To me, it’s like eating pasta with ketchup. The two seem to match. You can eat them together. But … noo!

A quick way to fix this would be to use a plural noun:

Trust your readers; they have a brain too.

But what if you want to keep it singular because “trust your reader” gives a sense of a one-on-one relationship between two people? It’s more intimate.

She or he has a brain too. 

Unreadable.

To keep everyone happy, in informal writing I like the parenthesis:

(s)he has a brain too.

On other occasions, I use a plural noun + they.

If I’m forced to do it and see no other alternatives, damn … I’ll have to eat pasta with ketchup.

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