'She' as a third-person singular subject pronoun, can refer to:
Is she your baby sister? She's cute!
- a female animal (especially pets)
Have you seen my cat? She's been missing all day.
- an inanimate object (especially when the object have special meaning and sentimental value to the owner) For example:
- boats
- ships
- vessels
- countries
- dolls and stuffed animals
- homes
- cars
- musical instruments
Now, take a look at some examples:
She is our mother Russia.
Here, 'she' is used to refer to a country.
Let's go for a sailing. There's my boat. She's a beauty, isn't she?
Here, 'she' is a pronoun that refers to a sailing boat.
Mommy, I want to play with Lucy. She wants to have a tea party.
Here, a child is referring to her doll, as a 'she'.
- a female deity or goddess
Aphrodite is an ancient Greek goddess. She's the goddess of love.
- an unspecified person (although nowadays some might consider it to be grammatically incorrect)
If somebody comes to the door, she can come in.
The better choice here would be to say, 'If somebody comes to the door, they can come in'. 'They' singular is now considered to be a generic pronoun.
FAQs
Main Similarity and Difference
When to use he and she? ›
Did you know he and she are the only gender-specific pronouns in the English language? While it may be obvious to most native English speakers that he is masculine and refers to a male and she is feminine and refers to a female, non-native English speakers may confuse the two.
Is she or he grammatically correct? ›
Grammar. In writing, we can use (s)he, he/she, him/her or his/her to refer to both sexes at the same time. When speaking formally, we say he or she and his or her: …
Is it grammatically correct to use they instead of he or she? ›
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) states that "grammar shifts and changes over time", that the use of singular they is acceptable, and that singular "they" as a replacement for "he" or "she" is more inclusive: When individuals whose gender is neither male nor female (e.g. nonbinary, agender, genderfluid, etc.)
Is it John and Her or John and She? ›
Pronouns in the subject position must be in the subjective case: you and I, not you and me or you and myself. There is another compound noun in the sentence, “she and John.” Since this noun is the object of the verb, the pronoun must be in the objective case: her.
What does it mean when someone says he or she? ›
[ hee-shee ] Phonetic (Standard) IPA. a combined form used as a singular nominative pronoun to denote someone either male or female: Each student may begin when he/she is ready.
Why do people use he or she instead of they? ›
Other Ways to Avoid Gender Discrimination
Some people prefer to use he or she instead of 'they' in speech and writing: Every child needs to feel he or she is loved.
How do you not use he or she in a sentence? ›
Some writers get around this problem by using the third-person plural pronoun they instead ("If the student wants a copy of their transcript, they should go to the Registrar's Office.").
Can I say he or she? ›
'He' mainly refers to a male person, and 'she' to a female person. 'It' is a little more complicated. Not only is it used to refer to objects and non-human things, but it can also be used to refer to humans (male or female). Let us get to it.
When did gender pronouns become a thing? ›
When did gender pronouns become a thing? Believe it or not, English speakers' dissatisfaction with binary, gendered language was documented as early as 1795. Use of “they” as a gender-neutral pronoun predates this discussion by some three or four hundred years.
Pronouns can be in the first person singular (I, me) or plural (we, us); second person singular or plural (you); and the third person singular (e.g., she/her, he/him, they/them, ze/hir) or plural (they/them). Gendered pronouns specifically reference someone's gender: he/him/his or she/her/hers.
Is it proper English to say her and I? ›
An example of a common mistake is “They came to the party with her and I.” The mistake here is using the subject pronoun 'I' when it should be 'me. ' Correct: “They came to the party with her and me.”
Is it correct to say I and her? ›
“She and I” because both are subject pronouns. “Her” is an object pronoun so you would use “me” not “I” so it would be “her and me”. See, if the girl is the subject of the sentence along with “I”, then it would be correct to use “She and I”. Ex1: She and I went to dinner.
Is it grammatically correct to say John and me? ›
The phrases John and I and John and me are both grammatically correct—you just need to be careful when you use each of them.
Is she and he capitalized? ›
Should we use capitals for personal pronouns? No. Personal pronouns are not capitalized in particular; you would only capitalize them where you would capitalize any word (ie if it's the start of a sentence or part of a title).
Can I use he or she in an essay? ›
Now that we have established that first-person and second-person pronouns cannot be used in formal essays, while third-person pronouns (i.e. he, him, his, himself, she, her, herself, it, its, itself, they, them, their, and themselves) may be used when necessary, you must be looking for an alternative to these pronouns.
