<p>Will the admissions counselors understand if I use "he" as a pronoun several times in my essay, since the English language lacks a gender neutral third person pronoun? I don't want to offend anyone, but "he or she" over and over sounds so much worse than just saying he.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>"He" is generally accepted. I doubt your admissions counselors are crazy raging feminists.</p>
<p>I think they'll understand, but I'm personally going to use "ze"/avoid the necessity for gendered pronouns.
Then again, that's because doing otherwise would not be an accurate reflection of my writing style. :P</p>
<p>My favorite strategy to avoid this is to rewrite the sentence so its structure does not necessitate the genderless 3rd person singular.</p>
<p>I just finished reading the related section on sexism in Diana Hacker's guide to grammar (and MLA/Chicago/APA formatting).</p>
<p>She suggests using he and she, rewording the sentence so it's plural, or rewording it to avoid the gender-neutral pronoun problem.</p>
<p>I personally think that's a bunch of baloney. I don't see the need to be overly sensitive to everyone in a way that is unnecessarily precise.</p>
<p>I am male. I use "he" for all gender-neutral situations. Don't know the gender of the Board of Trustees member? "He." Don't know the gender of the nurse? "He." </p>
<p>I always use "he," which eliminates any sexism. I'm completely consistent, which means I avoid traditional stereotypes as well. That's the key. You have to be consistent, otherwise it doesn't work. If I were female, I would probably use "she" all the time.</p>