Clean Up Your Act, I

Regular readers of my newsletter know that since last August I have been issuing monthly EWAs designed to help you improve your search engine optimized (SEO) web-writing skills. With this issue, I shift to writing best practices that have application in many areas including web writing.

A mistake I see commonly made by practitioners of corporate communications, especially investor communications, is using the possessive pronoun ''their'' to refer to something belonging to a singular noun.

First, read the following four sentences:

GM reported improved earnings on their overseas operations.
In some cities, the public does not support their schools.
The company issued an explanation, but investors found their response inadequate.
The medical team based their decision on proven science, not emotion.

What problem do all these sentences have in common? Their subjects are singular:
GM
Public
Company
Team

However, the possessive pronoun used later in the sentences is plural, ''their.''

If you start with a singular subject, you should use a singular pronoun, for example, ''its.'' That's the rule. The corrected sentences will then read:

GM reported improved earnings on its overseas operations.
In some cities, the public does not support its schools.
The company made an explanation, but investors found its response inadequate.
The medical team based its decision on science, not emotion.

Why do so many communication professionals use ''their'' when doing so is ungrammatical? (I've noticed that on-air reporters on CNBC commonly make this mistake.)

I have a theory: We shy away from using ''its'' in reference to a company or a public because it is gender neutral. We know that a company or corporation is comprised of and directed by people. We hate to deny their humanity.

We have no problem using ''his'' or ''her'' when referring to personal possessions:

She reported poor earnings on her overseas operations.
He improved on his personal-best time.

We hate to refer to a company as an ''it'' even though, in this context, that is exactly what it is. Likewise, we hate to think of a team of people as an ''it.'' After all, they're human beings, not a bunch of ''its.''

That's the reason investor relations specialists always refer to ''the company'' instead of ''it'' in their communications.

Complicating matters further is Mitt Romney's statement last summer that ''corporations are only people.'' I think I know what he means by that, but he's incorrect. Corporations are not people. Corporations are legal constructs created by people. I can't imagine Mitt himself having any difficulty agreeing with me on that.

Now that we know what is grammatically correct, something tells me you still don't feel comfortable using ''its'' in these cases. Actually, neither do I. There's another way around the problem that avoids the grammatical error.

One can change the subject to the plural in order to use the plural possessive pronoun, ''their.''

Read these transformed, ''their-friendly'' sentences:

Many companies reported poor earnings on their overseas sales due to the dollar's strong showing in currency markets.
In some cities, the citizens do not support their schools.
Companies can try to explain their results until they are blue in the face, but one fact remains:
The doctors based their decision on science, not emotion.

If you don't feel comfortable using ''its,'' you can simply leave the personal pronoun out, or replace it with an article. Then you have:

GM reported improved earnings on overseas operations.
In some cities, the public at large does not support schools.
The company issued an explanation, but investors found the response lacking.
The medical team based the decision on science, not emotion.

So now you know! If the subject is singular, don't use ''their.'' If you don't like ''its,'' make the subject of the sentence plural, or leave out the personal pronoun. There is no reason you ever have to use ''their'' even if it is their idea!

Note: I was amazed to learn that in the UK people commonly refer to possessions of newborn babies as ''its.'' For example, ''Look at its face! Look how cute it is!'' In America, our aversion to using a neuter pronoun would have us saying, ''Look how cute he is!'' or, ''Look how cute she is!'' Don't you agree? I believe this is the case.

Next month: Clean Up Your Act, II: How to shorten and strengthen your sentences.

As always, I appreciate your comments. Feel free to drop me a line any time.