: Re: How to avoid specifying the gender in English when the original text does not specify it? I'm translating a short story from Korean into English. One problem I frequently face is the 'antecedent

@Murray165

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Just don't settle for one way of writing something. Example:

One person Someone has put up a certificate, won
in their during childhood, that played a crucial
role in deciding their a career path. Someone else
has hung a tacky Emille Bell that looks like it has been bought on a
field trip to Gyeongju. The most common decorations, however, are
mass-manufactured posters. Depending what they people put up, the
person reveals they reveal not only their taste tastes but their
identities identities as well. It is quite easy to get a handle on the
person’s mind if they have the mind of someone who has put
up Dilbert, the cartoon strip character popular for dealing with the
everyday life of the ‘cubicle man.’

You could argue that taste and identity could remain singular here. You could also argue for using plural pronouns to agree with singular subjects, but that's beside the point. There are so many different ways to say a thing, and it is the writer's job to put the words into a felicitous arrangement. If one phrasing causes you problems, use another one.

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