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Gender in Grammar
What Is Gender in Grammar? (with Examples)
Gender is a category of noun. A noun can have a masculine gender, a feminine gender, or a neuter gender.Table of Contents
- Examples of Gender
- The Gender of a Noun Determines the Pronoun
- Genders Can Change in English
- Feminine Gender for Ships and Machines
- Video Lesson
- Why Gender in Grammar Is Important
- Printable Test
Examples of Gender
- man (masculine gender)
- woman (feminine gender)
- house (neuter gender)
- chicken (neuter gender – if we don't know if it's a rooster or a hen)

The Gender of a Noun Determines the Pronoun
In English, the gender of a noun affects the pronouns we use with it (e.g., he, she, it) and the possessive determiners (e.g., his, her, its). For example:- The man ripped his new coat, which he only bought yesterday.
- The woman lost her blue shoes, which she had never worn.
- The dog chewed its leather collar, which it hated.
More Examples of Gender
Here are some more examples of nouns and their genders:Noun | Gender | Example |
---|---|---|
Cup | Neuter | Where's my cup? I have lost it. |
Boy | Masculine | Has that boy finished his chores? |
Princess | Feminine | The princess has eaten hers. |
Genders Can Change in English
In English, nouns are categorized as masculine, feminine, or neuter depending on their meaning. Most nouns are neuter, unless they obviously refer to something male or female. (Only the third person pronouns (i.e., he, his, she, her, hers, it, and its) reflect gender.)In many other languages (e.g., Russian, Serbo-Croat, and German), the spelling of a noun (as opposed to its meaning) often determines its gender.
For example, if a noun ends -a (in Russian or Serbo-Croat) or ends -heit (in German), then it will be feminine. This is not how it works in English, where gender is directly linked to whether something is male or female. In English, gender can even change. Look at these examples:
Noun | Gender | Example |
---|---|---|
Dog | Neuter | Where's its bone? |
Dog | Masculine | Where's his bone? |
Dog | Feminine | Where's her bone? |
Feminine Gender for Ships and Machines
Even though they are not literally female, ships and other machines are sometimes affectionately given a feminine gender.Noun | Gender | Example |
---|---|---|
boat | Neuter | I have worked on this boat all my life. It is a beauty. |
boat | Feminine | I have worked on this boat all my life. She is a beauty. |
(Issue 1) Finding an alternative to his/her.
Look at these sentences:- Each person must understand where he fits in the team.
- Anyone who forgets his passport will be sent home.
To get around this, you could write:
- Each person must understand where he/she fits in the team.
- Anyone who forgets his or her passport will be sent home.
- Each person must understand where they fit in the team.
- Anyone who forgets their passport will be sent home.
It's not just they and their that can be singular. Them and theirs can be too.
This issue commonly crops up with sentences including the pronouns anyone, everyone, and everyone. If you really can't bear pairing them with a plural pronoun, then reword your sentence.
- Anyone who forgets their passport will be sent home.
- If you forget your passport, you will be sent home. (This reworded version avoids pairing the singular anyone with the plural their.
(Issue 2) Choosing the right version of blonde/blond.
The word blond/blonde changes depending on its gender.Blond is a noun meaning a fair-haired male.
- The blond has nice shoes. (We now know it's a boy.)
- The blond girl and the blond boy make a nice blond couple. (When it's an adjective, blond can be used for all genders.)
- The blonde has nice shoes. (We now know it's a girl.)
- The blonde girl and the blond boy make a nice blond couple. (As an adjective, blonde or blond can be used to describe females.)
(Issue 3) Using gender-neutral pronouns for people who do not identify themselves as either male or female.
Be aware that some people identify themselves as both male and female while others as neither male nor female. These people might ask you to use they (and of course their, them, theirs, themself) or just their name instead of a pronoun (e.g., Sarah, Sarah's, Sarah's self) when talking about them.You might also have noticed other gender-neutral pronouns appearing. Ey, per, sie, ve, and zie are all recently proposed alternatives to he or she, but at present none is showing any signs of entering into common usage. However, use of they for a gender-neutral singular pronoun (or "non-binary pronoun" as it's often called in this context) is deemed by a growing number of linguistics specialists to have a chance, particularly as it's used in a similar way already (see "Issue 1" above). Read more about using non-binary pronouns.
- When writing about someone whose gender is unknown, don't use he/she, his/her, etc. Use they, their, etc. For example:
- Anyone claiming
he/she isthey are medically exempt from this activity must have a note fromhis/hertheir doctor. - Use blond for men and blonde for women.
- Be aware that people identifying themselves as both male and female or neither might ask you to use they as their preferred pronoun or just their name instead of a pronoun.
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