Saturday, February 28, 2015

word usage - What pronoun to use, he or she?


When I was reading:



A ferryman of the underworld tests the soul of a dead king to see if he can count to ten.




For a moment, I thought: "who are 'he'? The king or his soul?"


then I keep on reading a little further:



The dead soul's answer takes the form of a poem in which the ten fingers are listed in their order.



and I got clarification.


But what if it'd have been a dead queen? Must one say:



"... to see if she can count to ten?"





Answer



Well, when talking about royalty, a queen is a female ruler, so yes, using a female pronoun would be appropriate.


Regarding your initial confusion about what 'he' referenced, keep in mind that if you take a soul to be the essence of a person, then in a metaphysical sense the king is his soul. In the context of the passage you've highlighted, it doesn't matter that there is no longer a body housing him; the king still exists as an entity and can therefore be referred to by his pre-established gender.


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