is or are

Singular "they" is a thing. Go Google it. There's an entire page on Wikipedia.

As with all standard rules of English:
They pl. - They are eating.
They sing. - They is eating.

This has been going on for at least a couple of centuries, so it doesn't actually change any rules of English (surprise surprise!). The only thing that changes is your knowledge and understanding of the English language.

 

We stopped grammar lessons at like, age 11 or smth. So maybe it's just your school or your country or whatever. Although, yes, most English people have mediocre grammar which generally hurts my ears (you try having a friend who's insanely particular about grammar and see how your grammar improves)

But singular "they" is still a thing.

It's use has dated back to the 16th century. Oxford dictionary accepts it. Merriam-Webster says it's fine. You're in good hands.

That is, even if you doubt me (which I am lowkey insulted by ahaha ), dictionaries and about 400 years of English support singular "they". You're in good hands.

 

The singular form of "they", indeed, has been used for a very long time and has been accepted into our English language. I suppose that if you are using it in the singular fashion, "they is" would probably be correct. However, that sounds awful and most people use "they are" even if it does refer to a singular person. "They are" hails back to the original, plural only use of "they". Overall I think that you could argue either way.

 

You say "they are".

Some of you are conflating syntax with semantics. Semantically, "they" can be singular or plural. In the singular sense, "they" is a gender-neutral pronoun and its usage does indeed date back centuries.

However, syntactically, "they" is always plural and takes plural agreement, thus you use "are", regardless of the semantics. Saying "they is" is a feature of certain dialects (for singular or plural semantics), like African-American Vernacular, but is considered non-standard and informal.

Another example: What agreement does the word "everyone" take? It takes singular agreement. "Everyone is coming to the party early". Semantically, "everyone" is plural since it refers to multiple people. But that doesn't matter in regard to syntactic agreement.

 

There is no English gender-neutral singular pronoun. We're stuck with the plural "they." So it follows that you have to say "they are" in a sorry attempt to shoehorn our existing grammar into a situation where it was not meant to be used. :/

Oh well. I'm sure people understand what you mean regardless hehe.

 

I'm on team "they are." It sounds very weird saying "they is," even if it's been used before in my opinion.

 

Even if "they is" is technically correct, "they are" is the widely used form regardless of plural or singular case.

The English language is a fickle thing. It is often quite confusing and makes very little logical sense. I usually side with the proper, technically correct, side of things. But sometimes I think it is better to favor the natural usage for fear of being grating. They is is grating and sounds like toddler-speak. They are is the usage in 99% of cases, albeit plural, so I think we can suspend religious technicality for this once.

 

"They is" is not technically correct, though. I think that's what people are missing. It would only be correct if "they" were syntactically singular, but it's not.

That said, usage could change that. If enough people said "they is", then it would eventually become correct. It just isn't at this moment.

 

"They is" sounds very very wrong and would make you come off as unintelligent.

 

'They is ____' is grammatically incorrect. The only time 'they is' would be correct, is when talking about it being a pronoun, as in 'they is a pronoun'.

'They are/they're' is used when talking about a person, whose sex/gender we don't know, or, when they identify as 'they/them'.