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The use of pronouns on FacialSurgery.com
When we refer to a plastic surgeon in the text on the pages of this Web
site, we say "the surgeon," or "the plastic surgeon,"
or "your doctor," but sometimes it's easier to refer to
"the surgeon" as "he" or "she," or to use
the other gender-specific pronouns that hold positions of direct or
indirect objects or show possession. We will use the convention of always
using the male pronouns when referring to the plastic surgeon, not because
we are assuming that all plastic surgeons are male, but rather because in
English the
male pronouns can be used as a placeholder for either male or female.
Thus, we will be able to write:
Your plastic surgeon can give you his opinion about ...
rather than having to use either of the following poor alternatives:
- Your plastic surgeon can give you his/her opinion about ...
- Your plastic surgeon can give you his or her opinion about ...
- Your plastic surgeon can give you their opinion about ...
In the nominative case, we will also be able to avoid such terrible
constructs as "he or she," "he/she," "s/he,"
"(s)he, ...." Oy vey. You get the idea. Don't think that we are
slighting females, because we are not. We are using a standard English writing convention to
keep the prose simple and understandable.
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