AP Stylebook adding singular ‘they’
Communicators are advised to use the new term sparingly. The guide’s entry for ‘gender’ was also updated, and a new entry for ‘homophobia’ and ‘homophobic’ was added.
In December 2015, The Washington Post added the term to its in-house style guide. Now, that move is extending to the AP Stylebook.
Making a case for a singular ‘they.’ On our blog: https://t.co/ltmwI8RSIY
— AP CorpComm (@AP_CorpComm) March 24, 2017
AP Stylebook editor Paula Froke and AP Stylebook’s product manager, Colleen Newvine, announced the change at the recent American Copy Editors Society conference in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The term is included in AP Stylebook’s online version and will be added to its 2017 print edition, due out May 31. However, the guidance is to use the new term sparingly, “when alternative wording is overly awkward or clumsy.”
AP Stylebook highlighted specific passages from the new entry in a blog post:
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