English grammar, anyone?

This is a new one and a real one - I clicked on a link to an article (which I believe someone posted not too long ago on a thread on this site).. it was about actor Ezra Miller.

As I'm reading I came across references to "they" and "their" - I had to stop and go back through the paragraph to see who else the reference was to in addition to the individual Ezra Miller. (Had I missed something about his other cast members in the Justice League or Flash movies?)

I couldn't find out who else the article was talking about by using plural pronouns.

It took me a while to realize I now live in woke world and the plural "they, them, their" was the "new speak" referring to the individual Ezra Miller (I'm assuming by his request for "preferred pronouns").

A big problem with this new woke-speak is that it is grammatically incorrect as it utilizes plurals (or worse, completely made up words) as pronouns for individuals which can be quite confusing to people versed in the standard rules of grammar for the English language.

P.S. And,,, as always... my preferred pronouns are he, him, his... or... if you're slightly more daring... O Captain My Captain!

There are contexts in which this isn't a "woke" thing, though your example might not qualify. The "singular they" has been a real thing for centuries. For some reason, we're no longer used to it. It's a way to get around having to use "he or she" or "his or hers," etc., when trying to write without committing to one sex. (You'll see this in nonfiction quite often as a way around the cumbersome constructions with "he/she.")

The Brits are more comfortable with the singular they than we Americans are (for usages such as I list above). The whole "woke" gender-pronoun thing is likely piggybacking off this earlier use of "they."

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Right you are, my man. It's good to see you posting. I thought maybe you'd left the site...

That's "my ma'am," to you, buddy! I'm Yoda's mom! (I think I am not allowed, by law, to leave this site, ever.)

Ah geez, I didn't know that!.. Apologies, ma'am. I think I conflated your avatar with one of our Indian friend's.

If it serves to soften my faux pas, I'm likely old enough to be your father..

I'm gonna be 62 in a little over a month. You can do your own math privately. (Yoda started this site when he was a teen, but even he is staring at the high end of his thirties!)

It should be “may the BETTER man win” since there’s only two of them.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

I worked with a very nice lady who could never get a handle on past vs passed.

Amazing how many people confuse your & you’re.

As a Brit I agree that they/their was/is fairly commonly used over here as a general term to mean anyone (among my friends and age group at least) and it's only in the last 5 years or so that people have started to question me when I say "they" when I could've said him/her/he/she. For what it's worth, I get the feeling it isn't used as much by those under 25-30, but I only know a couple of people in that age group, so I could be well off.

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I always get mixed up between its and it's.
I always think "apostrophe s" for possessive, but in this case "it's" is short for "it is" while the possessive tense does not have the apostrophe.

English can be very confusing though, personally, I never mix up these two.

Heh, heh. So you're still middle aged! Well, I'm 78, so I'd have been 16 when You were born. Hell, that's marryin' age in my state...

I use online services to check grammar. Based on my own experience I can suggest one reliable essay service CustomWritings. It's one of the best writing services that I ever used. They have professional team of writers and can write anything at the highest level. Useful tool for grammar check and proofreading. I think such services are great option for students. They helped me hundreds of times

For the people who bother to check, that's probably a common method.. I used to consult a dictionary to check spelling, e.g., but now it's just easier to do it online.

Have you noticed that some of the automatic spell checkers on various websites don't recognize the correct spelling for various words? Maybe they haven't paid for the full dictionary...