Gender neutral language is an expression that can be used to describe or name a male or a female. Most of the time these words are pronouns or slang words. When do these words come in handy you might ask? All the time! Authors use gender neutral language to describe a mysterious character that they don’t want to revile too much about just quite yet. It can also be used in the advice columns for advice to both men and women. And it can also be used when you are talking to someone and you cannot determine their gender. They are used in writings, and in everyday speech.
Some of the most popular gender neutral language is pronouns. The most popular one would have to be they. They can be used to describe one person or an entire group. An example could be, they walked up to me, pulled a gun, and demanded all of my money. Another example of it used as a group would be, they all walked up to me and told me how nice my outfit looked today. The other pronouns are: it, they, them, and their. Those are the most common pronouns that are also gender neutral language. And
Another form or gender neutral language would be slang words. The most common slang word that is a gender neutral word would be dude. Dude can be used for anyone and anything, not only people. Like, look at the little dude. That could be used to describe a cat, dog, or elephant, absolutely anything. Dude, can also be used like, Hey dude. That is the most common form. That can be a greeting to either man or woman.
A common way people use gender neutral language is a way that they do not even realize that they are doing it. When you describe someone by their job, you are using gender neutral language. The cashier, grocer, janitor, all of those are gender neutral. Some words like waitress, actor, and seamstress, are NOT gender neutral. The way you can tell is how the word ends. If the word ends in –ess, then it is not gender neutral because the suffix –ess denotes a female occupation. If the word ends in –or, it denotes a male occupation.
When to use gender neutral language is a very important question. How are you to know when it is appropriate? The best time to use gender neutral language would be when you are writing a story or something that is not professional. When gender neutral language is used on some professional documents it will make the document look incompetent and sloppy. This could ruin your reputation as a credible writer. So, it is better not to use gender neutral language when ever possible.
The way you can tell which gender neutral words to use is grammatically. You would choose the word that would go best with the verb or adverb. All you have to do is use what you learned in school, and you should be set.
So, using gender neutral language is very easy. All you have to know is which word you want to use. Then, what the verb in your sentence is. And finally if it is appropriate to use gender neutral language in what you are writing. Anyone can use gender neutral language as long as they know how to do it, and use it in an adequate amount. It will make your writing much easier.