"A hasty diagnosis [of ADHD] stops medics from making in-depth assessments and analysing properly what is happening in a child’s life – how they are being parented, for example" – The Spectator, 4 Jan 2025
In this sentence, are you held up, as I was, by that pronoun, "they"? To what or whom does it refer? There is no plural to which it can possibly relate. But then "parented" gives us a clue. We’re talking of "a child". It’s remarkable that the English language, with its simple, clear (for the most part) syntax has recently become so distorted that elementary rules are no longer in use.
And we had a perfectly effective way to express the idea here. In the past, and until a short time ago, "a child" of unspecified gender was routinely referred to as "it". And "it" was a legitimate way to express the idea of a child even if its gender was in fact known.
But our tenderness extends not only to children but to all creatures great and small, and has existed at least since the beginning of the century. In a radio programme on the intelligence of birds as long ago as 2003, a jackdaw being studied was referred to (in speech) as "he or she".
This is surely a laughable precaution against giving offence. It is also, of course, an implicit assertion that literally all relationships are basically political: a Marxist notion if ever there was one. Let’s reinstate the simple neuter pronoun "it" as a really useful, and genuinely neutral, part of speech.