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Lastly, when using cultural references and examples, feature diversity of all kinds as much as possible.

Personal pronouns

For In most cases, use “he or she” for third-person, singular personal pronouns referring to any individual, use “he or she. ” If this proves cumbersome, turn your antecedent noun (i.e., what the pronoun is a substitute for) into the plural form and then subsequently use “they.”

A student Students can explore his or her their intellectual interests at Cornell. He or she has They have great flexibility in choosing majors and minors.

Although the use of “they” has been evolving However, if the individual prefers it, “they” may be used to refer to an individual, this practice is not widely used in formal writing. This said, try to accommodate strong personal preferences, especially in situations where an individual may not identify with either male or female pronouns, opting to use a different gender-neutral pronoun instead. Visit Cornell’s that individual in the third person. This applies even to formal writing. Other gender-neutral personal pronouns (along with guidelines for their use) are listed in Cornell’s LGBT Resource Center's web page for a list of gender-neutral pronouns and guidelines for their use.

To capitalize or not to capitalize “black”

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