Home Pronouns Pronoun practice: say any set aloud in real sentences

Pronoun practice: say any set aloud in real sentences

Type a name, pick a set, read the sentences out loud. Saying the words beats reading about them.

Knowing someone's pronouns and saying them without a stumble are different things. The stumble happens in the mouth, halfway through a sentence, when an old habit gets there first. The fix is the same as for any new word: say it, in ordinary sentences, until it stops catching.

This page gives you thirty of those sentences. They are deliberately boring: bread, umbrellas, trains, birthdays. That is the point: pronouns mostly turn up in exactly this kind of talk.

It works for learning a friend's new pronouns, getting used to a set you have never said before, or trying out a set for yourself in private before you say it to anyone else.

Read these aloud

  1. Alex is running late, so they said to start without them.
  2. They are bringing the bread tonight.
  3. I borrowed their charger this morning.
  4. The blue umbrella by the door is theirs.
  5. They taught themself to bake bread last winter.
  6. Have you asked Alex? They were there too.
  7. They have a better sense of direction than anyone I know.
  8. I will text them when the train gets in.
  9. Alex left their scarf on the bus again.
  10. They do the crossword every Sunday morning.
  11. They were the first person to help when I moved.
  12. Can you save a seat for them?
  13. They are good at remembering birthdays.
  14. That playlist was theirs, not mine.
  15. Alex made themself a coffee before the meeting.
  16. They have been learning the guitar since spring.
  17. I asked them how their week was.
  18. They do not take sugar.
  19. They were tired, so we walked them home.
  20. The idea to split the bill was theirs.
  21. Alex fixed the shelf all by themself.
  22. They are not sure yet, but they will let us know.
  23. They have their own way of making tea.
  24. We are meeting them at the station at six.
  25. They were laughing so hard that they could not finish the story.
  26. The green bike outside is theirs.
  27. Tell them I said happy birthday.
  28. They do most of the cooking at home.
  29. They have already read the book, so ask them about the ending.
  30. Alex should be proud of themself, and I hope they are.

Type a name. Any name works, including one you are trying out. Then pick a set: he/him, she/her, they/them, xe/xem, ze/zir, ze/hir, fae/faer, e/em or it/its. The sentences fill in straight away, with the verbs adjusted, so they/them gets they are and xe/xem gets xe is.

Read them out loud rather than in your head. Your eyes will accept almost anything; your mouth is where the old word sneaks back in. If a sentence trips you up, read it again, then move on and come back to it.

If someone uses two sets, such as she/they or he/they, practise each set in turn. If someone uses any pronouns, practise the sets you expect to use. If you pick name only, the name goes wherever a pronoun would, and sentences that need a word like himself or themself are left out, because English has no tidy way to say those with a name.

Then try one more thing: read a sentence with the wrong pronoun on purpose, stop, say the right one, and finish the sentence. That is the whole repair, and practising it makes it automatic. The glossary entry on misgendering explains why short beats sorry.

This is a practice page, not a form. There is nothing to send.

Pronoun sets

He/him pronounsHe, him, his, himself. The most familiar set in English, and it tells you how to refer to someone, not who they are.She/her pronounsShe, her, hers, herself. Familiar forms, with one quirk: her does two jobs.They/them pronounsThey, them, their, theirs, themself. One person, plural verbs: they are, they were.She/they pronounsBoth sets are right. How much of each is up to the person, and you are allowed to ask.He/they pronounsHe and they are both right. The mix is the person's call, and one question settles it.Xe/xem pronounsXe, xem, xyr, xyrs, xemself. Same shape as he/him, singular verbs, new sounds.Ze/zir pronounsZe, zir, zir, zirs, zirself. Not the same set as ze/hir, so listen for the second word.Ze/hir pronounsZe, hir, hir, hirs, hirself. Hir is said like here, which keeps it apart from her.Fae/faer pronounsFae, faer, faer, faers, faerself. Said fay and fair, with singular verbs.E/em (Spivak) pronounsE, em, eir, eirs, emself. One letter away from ey/em, and often mixed up with it.It/its pronounsFor someone who chose it, it is respectful. For anyone else, it is dehumanising. Both are true.Any pronounsMore than one set is fine. That is an invitation, not a reason to stop paying attention.No pronounsUse the name where a pronoun would go. The rest is rephrasing, and it gets easy quickly.

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