When I'm referencing a undefined person, when should I use "she" or "he"?

Question

This is something I realized in some text I read (books and articles), I don't identify it when speaking to people. When a pronoun is used replacing an undefined person sometimes "he" is used (I would say most of the time) and others "she" is used. Like in the sentence "The user is very clever, she found an error.", in formal Portuguese writing the pronouns for undefined person are always masculin, is it optional for English?

Use they, it's the gender-neutral pronoun – JJJ Apr 09 '18 at 15:13 — JJJ, Apr 09 '18 at 15:13
See also She/he to refer a user – herisson Apr 09 '18 at 15:33 — herisson, Apr 09 '18 at 15:33

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 09 '18 at 15:20

1

As far as I know, it is more common to use masculine pronoun, ie he, to refer to a person whose gender is not indicated. Feminine pronouns are more used for countries, cities, ocean liners, etc. It's also acceptable to say: Someone...their/they/them... or Someone...his or her/(s)he/him or her...

answered Apr 09 '18 at 15:20

Tien Tran

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So you're saying that it is optional, right? – Jp_ Apr 09 '18 at 15:55
Yeah sure, it is optional. – Tien Tran Apr 09 '18 at 15:57

When I'm referencing a undefined person, when should I use "she" or "he"?

1 Answers1