English grammar - Using "their" in the singular?
Milagro asked a question about using their with everybody.
Everybody has their own style.
Now, I know there's going to be some debate about whether you should use everybody or everyone, but that's not the question. Their was originally a plural word. It has become very common to use it in a singular sense - Someone left their ring on the sink.
I suspect that this came about mostly out of political correctness. English does share the same general rule with Spanish that when the gender is unknown, or when there is a group with mixed gender, you should use the masculine. This type of thing came under fire in the 1960's with the movement to reduce the inherent sexism of the language. "Mailman" was replaced with "mail carrier", "steward" and "stewardess" were replaced with "flight attendant", etc.
Anyway, my point is that I feel that "their" has come to be commonly used with both singular and plural nouns.
Your turn.
6 Answers
Being a few months older than some I may say with confidence that "their" was
always thus, mind you when I was young it was quite easy to differentiate
between the Blokes and the Sheilas. the latter wore dresses, and the former
long pants, although we did wear shorts ,so if "their" legs were hairy and covered in
scabs,it was a fair old bet that "their" owners were blokes. There was an exception ,
"Ginger Mary" had the roughest and hairiest legs of all time, it was not untill
Puberty that we, and "Ginger Mary " realised that he/she was a bloke named Gordon
Their mam had been gifted a stack of Sheilas clothes so that is all he/she wore .
Ginger Mary continued wearing female garb untill we delicately pointed out that
he made quite a presentable Bloke ,but a "drop dead shocking Sheila.
He acquiesced, and started to wear "longuns" like us,but he was always known as
Ginger mary, I wonder is there a young person today who is saying to friends ,
"Come home and meet my grandad "Ginger Mary" ?
I thought "their" was used in the singular or plural sense all along. I'm trying to think of the alternatives...
Everybody has his or her own style.
Everybody has his own style.
It is actually something I have never considered. Now you have me thinking Kevin. 
Yes, it is a dilemma for some of us. I did read a book by Marge Piercy a few decades ago; the book was situated at some unidentified time in the future, and the characters had a gender neutral equivalent to "his/her", which was "per" (derived from "person"). I thought it was an ingenious suggestion, but apparently it never caught on.
One Must Wash Their Hands
The Queen would notapprove !
One must wash one's hands 
impersonal they, them their(s) to refer to singular
One Must Wash Their Hands: Using 'They' in the Singular and Impersonal
I find it quite easy to discern mens' rings from womens' rings 
All my English teachers have been fine with using their in a singular sense. I'm not very old, so i'm not sure if this came about as people began to become more politically correct.
