Pronoun Usage Guide

Pronoun Usage Guide

A guide to understanding and using personal pronouns

Making assumptions about someone’s gender identity can often lead to exclusion and harm. Learning to ask for and use someone’s pronouns is a small step in treating 2SLGBTQI people with decency and respect. To affirm someone’s right to be addressed the way they want to be is a simple step in boosting mental health. Inclusive pronoun usage is a step towards inclusion and cultivating a safer space for 2SLGBTQI people.

What Are Pronouns?

Pronouns are words that can replace nouns – words referring to people, places, or things – in a sentence.

First-Person Pronouns

When a person speaks about themself e.g., I, me, my, myself; we, us, our, ourselves.

Second-Person Pronouns

When a person speaks about the person to whom they are speaking e.g., You, your, yours, yourself.

Third-Person Pronouns

When a person speaks about someone other than
themself or the person to whom they are speaking
e.g., She, her, hers, herself; he, him, his, himself; they, them, their, themselves or themself.

Pronoun Sets

Here are pronouns that you might see or hear. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list.

He
Him
His

Ey
Em
Eirs

She
Her
Hers

Ze
Hir
Hirs

They
Them
Theirs

Xe
Xem
Xirs

Personal pronouns are pronouns that refer to a person.

Grammatically, pronouns are in the first, second, or third person depending on whether the speaker is referring to themself, to the listener, or to another person