How do you use the word "they" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "they" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "they": They are too busy fighting against each other to care for common ideals. Every person who is alone is alone because they are afraid of others.

They Meaning

/ˈðeɪ̯/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

pronA group of entities previously mentioned.

pronA single person, previously mentioned, whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or (since 20th c.) non-binary.

Sentence Examples

They are too busy fighting against each other to care for common ideals.

Every person who is alone is alone because they are afraid of others.

They planned to go hiking in the mountains this weekend.

CEFR Practice Quiz

I saw the kids; ____ can visit the museum tomorrow with their class.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

I wonder where my friends are, as ____ promised to meet me here at exactly five o'clock this evening today.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tóy Proto-Germanic *þai Proto-Norse *ᚦᚨᛁᛉ (*þaiʀ) Old Norse þeirbor. Middle English þei English they From Middle English þei, borrowed in the 1200s from Old Norse þeir, plural of the demonstrative sá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced native Middle English he from Old English hīe — which vowel changes had left indistinct from he (“he”) — by the 1400s, being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound (the, that, this). Used as a singular pronoun since 1300, e.g. in the 1325 Cursor Mundi. The Norse term (whence also Icelandic þeir (“they”), Faroese teir (“they”), Danish de (“they”), Swedish de (“they”), Norwegian Nynorsk dei (“they”)) is from Proto-Germanic *þai (“those”) (from Proto-Indo-European *to- (“that”)), whence also Old English þā (“those”) (whence obsolete English tho), Scots thae, thai, thay (“they; those”), Swabian dia (“they”). The origin of the determiner they (“the, those”) is unclear. The OED, English Dialect Dictionary and Middle English Dictionary define it and its Middle English predecessor thei as a demonstrative determiner or adjective meaning “those” or “the”. This could be a continuation of the use of the English pronoun they's Old Norse etymon þeir as a demonstrative meaning “those”, but the OED and EDD say it is limited to southern, especially southwestern, England, specifically outside the region of Norse contact.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; And they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; And they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away" — 1611, King James Bible:

"[…]purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance, they fell to action; and continued their cloſe fight a long while together, vnſeene and vvithout ſuſpition, no doubt to their equall ioy and contentment." — 1620, Giovanni Bocaccio, translated by John Florio, The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleaſant Nouels: Wittily Diſcourſed, Betweene Seuen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen, Isaac Iaggard, Nouell 8, The Eighth Day:

"There is no reason to be scared of iguanas. They do not attack humans." — 2010, Iguana Invasion!: Exotic Pets Gone Wild in Florida, →ISBN, page 9:

"Then shalt thou bring forth that man, or that woman (which haue committed that wicked thing) vnto thy gates, euen that man, or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 17:5:

"Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione." — 1997, J. K. Rowling, chapter 10, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, (quoted edition: London: Bloomsbury, 2000, →ISBN, page 187):

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