by Paula Gail Benson
Recently, I explored
the REVIEW function on Microsoft Word. I clicked on REVIEW and selected
SPELLING AND GRAMMAR, which takes you to EDITOR. The EDITOR provides several
different levels of information that can be modified depending upon what the
writer wants or, if the writer does not choose, what he or she uses.
You have basic CORRECTIONS for Spelling and Grammar. Then, a grouping called REFINEMENTS, which includes Clarity, Conciseness, Inclusiveness, Punctuation Conventions, and Vocabulary. INSIGHTS lets you check Document Stats, where you can learn about word counts and readability (my Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level for these two paragraphs is 11.2, but I have 20% passive voice).
I decided to click on specific functions to better understand the information they provide. For what I’ve written so far on this post, I have an Editor Score of 95% with an indication of 1 suggestion for Inclusiveness. What is that suggestion? That I change “he or she uses” at the end of the first paragraph to “they use.”
This is understandable. Rather than reflecting gender, it recommends a generic term, now being used for persons who identify as binary or non-binary.
In addition, it has historical precedent. Jennifer Gunner, in her article “Why the Singular ‘They’ Has Always Made Sense in Context,” mentions that the Oxford English Dictionary traces use of “they” as a singular rather than a plural pronoun to a 1375 romance poem, William and the Werewolf. She continues, “No one even claimed they and them were solely plural pronouns until four hundred years later—and even then, grammarians demanded that you was also only a plural pronoun (thou was the singular form).”
A writer may have to make careful choices considering historical terminology. For a short story I’m writing that takes place in the 1880s, Microsoft Word’s Editor has provided some interesting suggestions. In my story, about a young woman trying to determine what she should do in life, I mention my protagonist asking for an opinion from the headmistress of her finishing school. The headmistress tells her to consider becoming a nanny for a former classmate who is now married and expecting a child.
At this point in writing the post, my Editor Score has dipped to 91% and I have 3 suggestions under Inclusiveness. The first for “he or she.” The second and third are words I used in my short story: for “headmistress” the Editor would use “principal” and for “nanny” it offered “babysitter,” “live-in babysitter,” or “childcare worker.”
These suggestions offer gender neutral alternatives, but they are not words I would expect my 1880s protagonist to use instead of “headmistress” or “nanny.”
Until her retirement, my aunt operated a one-person United States Post Office branch. If someone called her a “Postmistress,” she would gently correct to “Postmaster.”
Am I potentially offending someone by using the terms “headmistress” and “nanny” or am I using them properly to reveal historical context? What do you recommend?
How should I ask this question if I click on the option to “Give feedback to Microsoft”?
