Junio C Hamano wrote: > "Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > > > @@ -1178,7 +1178,7 @@ static void handle_signed_tag(struct commit *parent, struct commit_extra_header > > /* > > * We could verify this signature and either omit the tag when > > * it does not validate, but the integrator may not have the > > - * public key of the signer of the tag he is merging, while a > > + * public key of the signer of the tag they are merging, while a > > * later auditor may have it while auditing, so let's not run > > * verify-signed-buffer here for now... > > * > > This is not wrong per-se, but "the tag being merged" is something I > would have written, as naive non-native English speakers would find > it disturbing and ungrammatical that "the integrator" singular is > matched with "singular" they, which goes opposite from what they > were taught in their foreign language classes [*1*]. It's not just non-native English speakers. According to linguists the singular "they" only makes sense when the antecedent is plural (comes from a pool of people), in this case "the integrator" is semantically singular. 58% of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary would disagree with this usage [1]. > Perhaps offer a passive voice as a weaker alternative to the > singular they in the guidelines patch? Yes, "of the tag being merged" does read correctly to me, unlike the version above. Cheers. [1] https://ahdictionary.tumblr.com/post/147597257733/updated-usage-note-they -- Felipe Contreras
