My pronouns are:
star/star's
(Avoiding gendered forms / no pronouns / null pronouns / pronounless / nullpronominal / nameself)
Example usage in sentences:
- I think star is very nice.
- I met star recently.
- Is this star's dog?
- Star told me that the house is star's.
- Star said star would rather do it starself.
Table:
| Subject | Object | Possessive determiner | Possessive pronoun | Reflexive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| star | star | star's | star's | starself |
Use names or initials instead of pronouns
Normative
Passive voice
Normative
- He answered the phone → The phone was answered
- Wen takes good care of her cat → Wen's cat is well cared for
Rephrasing the sentence (circumlocution)
Normative
- Lior did it all by himself → Lior did it all without any help
- Gael talks in his sleep → Gael talks while sleeping
Replacing a pronoun with a descriptive noun or phrase
Normative
- She landed the plane safely → The pilot landed the plane safely
- This is Lea, she is into painting → This is Lea. My friend is into painting
- She argues that… → The person who started this discussion argues that…
Dropping pronouns
Normative
- Did you buy Tex her gift? → Did you buy Tex a gift?
- Yes, I bought it for her. I will give it to her tomorrow. → Yes, I bought it. I will give it tomorrow.
What's the deal with pronouns?
Pronouns are those words that we use instead of calling someone by their name every time we mention them. Most people use “he/him” and “she/her”, so we automatically assume which one to call them based on someone's looks. But it's actually not that simple…
Gender is complicated. Some people “don't look like” their gender. Some prefer being called in a different way from what you'd assume. Some people don't fit into the boxes of “male” or “female” and prefer more neutral language.
This tool lets you share a link to your pronouns, with example sentences, so that you can show people how you like to be called.
Why does it matter? Because of simple human decency. You wouldn't call Ashley “Samantha” just because you like that name more or because “she looks like a Samantha to you”. Or even if she does have the name “Samantha” in her birth certificate but she absolutely hates it and prefers to use “Ashley”. And it's the exact same story with pronouns – if you don't want to be rude towards someone, please address them properly. The only difference is that we usually know names, but not pronouns. We introduce ourselves with a name, but not pronouns. Let's change that!