Reply To: Why Do People Speak This Way?

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haifagirl
Participant

Haifagirl- if I want to say “everyone has to know themself” is themself one or two words? I always thought it was one but autocorrect changes it to two. Thanks!

Thank you for asking. I really admire people who want to learn more rather than keep making the same mistakes repeatedly.

Autocorrect is correct. Them and self are each separate words. Themselves is one word and is used for plurals.

Example: They didn’t hire movers, they moved everything themselves.

However, everyone is a singular word, so it requires a singular pronoun. What you mean to say is, “Everyone has to know himself.”

If you want to recast the sentence using gender-neutral language, try “All people have to know themselves.”