A. Animals, cars, ships, countries

People sometimes call animals, especially their domestic animals, he or she.

1. Once upon a time there lived a cat. He lived in a field.

2. Go and put the dog out. He must run a little.

Some people use she for their cars, motorbikes etc. Sail­ors often call their ships and boats she. Other people call them it.

• How is your new motorbike? - Fine. She is running beautifully.

In modern English people use she for countries. But of course it is more common.

• What can you say about your country? - Well, it (she) is a beautiful country.

B. He or She

English people use he in cases when they don't know the sex of a person.

• Do you know the person who did that? If I find him I'll take him to the police station.

But many people try to avoid he. The expression he or she is becoming common in English.

• If a worker is ill he or she must have a medical certifi­cate.

C. They

In an informal style the English often use they to mean he or she after the words "somebody", "anybody", "person".

• I have a spare ticket to the concert. If anybody wants it they can buy it.

• The telephone is ringing. Tell them I am out. Nobody phoned, did they?

D. If a person wants to indicate a gender the words she, he, woman can be added.

• a doctor — a woman doctor; a goat — a she-goat; a cousin — a she-cousin

Some nouns form the feminine from the masculine adding the suffix -ess.

E. Words ending in "MAN"

Such words as "chairman", "fireman", "spokesman" have both feminine and masculine meaning.

But in modern English the word person sometimes is used instead of "man".

• Alice has just been elected chairperson (or chair) of our committee.

• A spokesperson (spokeswoman) said that he does not intend to go to America.

Note!

There is a general tendency in English to use other words instead of words ending in "man":

foreman (мастер)— supervisor; ambulance men — ambulance staff; fireman — firefighter

F . Man and mankind (человечество в целом)

In modern English some people prefer to avoid the word "mankind." They use such words as people, humanity, hu­ man race.

H. Mr, Mrs, Ms

Ms [miz] or [məz] is often used instead of Mrs or Miss, because Ms like Mr does not show whether the person is married or not.

There are some nouns which have different forms according to gender.

These forms can be expressed in two ways:

a) by changing the ending (actor – actress, barman – barmaid, conductor – conductress, duke (герцог) – duchess,                                 emperor (император) – empress, heir [εə] (наследник)– heiress, hero – heroine, host (хозяин) – hostess, policeman – policewoman, prince- princess, waiter – waitress, widower (вдовец) – widow. In modern usage, however, many gendered forms are avoided. We use neutral forms instead. E.g. police officer, flight attendant, etc.

b) by changing the word ( bachelor (холостяк)– spinster, boy – girl, bridegroom (жених;) – bride, father – mother, gentleman – lady, man – woman, nephew – niece, son – daughter, uncle – aunt, etc.

c) some domestic animals and wild animals have different forms according to gender:

bull (бык) - cow, cock – hen, dog – bitch, drake (селезень)– duck, gander (гусак) – goose, lion – lioness, ram (баран)– ewe, stag (олень-самец) – doe, stallion (жеребец) – mare(кобыла), tiger – tigress, but gorilla, etc.

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a sheep/ a lamb; a butterfly/ a caterpillar; a duck/a duckling;  a deer/ a young deer; a hen/ a chicken;

 a pig/ a sucking pig; a cat/ a kitten; a dog/ a puppy; a horse/ a foal; a frog/ a tadpole; a goose/ a gosling; a bear/ a bear-cub;  

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(bride)groom — bride (невеста), hero — heroine (героиня), monk — nun (монах — монахиня) policeman — policewoman, widower — widow (вдова), executor — executrix (судебный исполнитель - судебная исполнительница)

 

1. Complete each pair below by adding the male or female equivalent.

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