Luna Amore wrote:Schiltzberg wrote:ISSUE 445, OPTION 2
2."That's bloody ridiculous!" puffs red-faced protester, Josh Longfellow, blowing spittle all over their supercilious counterpart. "They're trying to paint all of this as something that any reasonable person would do - but it just isn't! I don't know every inch of the tax code, and it's not like I can get all these smug big-shots to hang around the flat and tell me how to 'structure my assets', or some other rubbish. They knew what they did was against the spirit of the law, if nothing else - take them for all they've got. It's only fair."
The use of the word "their" in the first sentence is a typo. I realize that the writer put in that word instead of "his" or "hers," because he did not want the pronoun to conflict with the random name, but that does not make "their" a singular word. I would suggest changing the word "their" to a singular pronoun, like "his" or "hers," even though there is the risk of the random name coming up with a name from the opposite gender. At least it would be grammatically correct.
Changed it to a male randomname and his.
That's not "a typo." The singular their is recommended by the Chicago Manuel of Style and has been for over a decade. Some readers might not like it, but it's still grammatically correct.
Issue writers shouldn't have to worry that you're going to change all their people to men unless they specify it's a woman.