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   moggie (everydaymoggie@sfba.social)'s status on Saturday, 10-Feb-2024 16:35:13 JST moggie

   • Dilman Dila

   It works the same as "you," which at one time was a plural pronoun, not a singular one. (The singular form was "thou.") In formal English, both "you" and "they" use the verb forms that go with plurals even when they're referring to one individual. It's not really consistent, but what in English ever is? So, like this:

   You are wonderful.
   They are wonderful.

   You were sitting in this chair.
   They were sitting in this chair.

   @dilmandila

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     13 barn owls in a trenchcoat (hauntedowlbear@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Saturday, 10-Feb-2024 16:35:11 JST 13 barn owls in a trenchcoat

     in reply to

     • Dilman Dila

     @dilmandila @EverydayMoggie I mostly use full plural forms, but have developed an affection for "themself" in place of "themselves".

     Regarding the dropping of thou from English (barring regional dialects that still use form of it), the plural "you" was also a mark of respect and over time "thou" became regarded as rude.

     You can see an opposite kind of thing happening in (online only!) French, where the plural/respectful "vous" is rarely used and even strangers are regularly addressed with the familiar "tu".

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     Dilman Dila (dilmandila@mograph.social)'s status on Saturday, 10-Feb-2024 16:35:13 JST Dilman Dila

     in reply to

     @EverydayMoggie Hmmm I wonder what made them change you from plural to singular, but we know the main force behind using they, so we should argue for 'they is'... but going with the polls, that is unlikely too take root. ;-)