在所指性別為中性時，第三人稱代詞最好的書面表達方式是什麼？

01-29

寫作中，會碰到第三人稱所指性別模糊的情況。中文裡有時用「他/她」，非正式場合可以用「TA」來指代。英文里會用 he/she, s/he, he or she, man, they 等等來指代。可是都有各自的優缺點。
問題有：
1. 對於現代中文和英文，在所指性別為中性時，你覺得第三人稱代詞最好的書面表達方式分別有什麼？

2. 其他現代語言的書面語里，有中性的第三人稱代詞么？

用they（their / them）。這種用法叫做singular they，根據維基百科：

Singular they is the use of they (or its inflected forms, such as them or their) to refer to an entity that is not plural, or not necessarily plural. It typically occurs in these situations:

Indeterminate gender – when they refers to an individual person of unknown or unspecified gender, for example, "One student failed their exam". This usage is known as epicene they.

Indeterminate number – when they has no definite antecedent, or can be interpreted as referring to either a singular or plural entity. This usage is also known as generic they. For example, in "Anyone who thinks they have been affected should contact their doctor", they and their are within the scope of the universal, distributive quantifieranyone, and can be interpreted as referring to an unspecified individual or to people in general (notwithstanding the fact that "anyone" is strictly grammatically singular).

簡單翻譯過來就是，這幾種情況用they：

性別不確定，比如 "One student failed their exam"。（不確定男生還是女生）。
數目不確定，比如 "Anyone who thinks they have been affected should contact their doctor"。（不確定有多少人受到了影響）。

one one - Wiktionary pronoun 第三條

例句請戳 one might_權威例句 from 有道

如果有從句或是被指代對象出現多次，之後不再用one 而是"he or she" （或者"she or he")，賓格、所有格、反身代詞相應替換，如"himself or herself"

如：

One cannot get everything he or she wants.

希望有幫助，singular they 受教了

其

我以為用「他」就足以滿足這要求。用他/她區分陰性陽性第三人稱，是在五四新文化運動之後才開始的，之前指稱人的第三人稱一律用「他」，康熙字典裡面的「她」還是「姐」的古字。當時覺得西方風氣開明，男女都有專字代指，所以就這麼用了；現在西方風氣變了，自然也能轉回去。

(此|這|那)人

祂

丫

這廝

總不能說它吧，說其應該比較委婉點

中文環境下，無特定性別的第三人，可以用「他」泛指。同樣的，指代若干個第三人，也通用「他們」，即使是若干女性——這種情況下用「她們」也是可以的。