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Candace Owens slams usage of pronouns they/them as 'poor grammar', Internet retorts 'your pronoun is IT'

Owens' tweet comes hours after singer Demi Lovato came out as non-binary, changing their pronouns from she/her to they/them

Candace Owens stirred up hornet's nest on Twitter on Wednesday, May 19, when she commented on the usage of pronouns. This comes hours after singer Demi Lovato came out as non-binary, changing their pronouns from she/her to they/them.

The queen of controversial tweets was back with a new one when she slammed the using of pronouns they/them as "poor grammar". Taking to the social media networking site, Owens said: "Announcing that your pronouns are they/them is just poor grammar. I don’t care your reasons—please stop trying to make low academic achievement a thing."

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'Go back to school Candace'

People on Twitter did not shy away from commenting on the conservative political commentator's tweet. "Graduate in professional writing here. No, it's not. You use "they/them" when you refer to someone who has not specified their gender. Go back to school, Candace. You learn this in third grade," said one. "Candace Owens is a bigot and homophobe. Pass it on!" said another. "Nah, actually they/them have always been used as singular pronouns as well. Turns out you just don't know proper grammar that well," a third chipped in.

'Your pronoun is "IT"'

Others brought up her own grammatical failings. "Oh, come on. "I don't care your reasons?" This is either tardigrade-level trolling or superlative genius," said a Twitter user. "-I can't find my FRIEND! -Where are THEY? -When did you see THEM last? -Do you have THEIR number to call THEM? We use it ALL of the time especially when the gender of the person is unknown! Is GRAMMAR that hard?" quipped another. "Do you write these yourself or did you pay someone to write them for you? In either case, it's not the kind of enlightened thought befitting an educated inquiring mind," said a third. "Your pronoun is "IT"," said another.

However, not everyone agreed to the reasoning. "People that need pronouns to define them need serious mental health treatment," said one. "The problem comes depending on where the words appear in a sentence. They is typically going to be the one that causes more problems. They is here for singular or they are here for plural. They works or they work would be another example," said another. 

The use of non-binary pronouns has gained traction online and on social media, with people now using them in their Twitter bios. According to Merriam-Webster, the singular pronoun "they" has been in use since the 1300s, and it was already used in the company's dictionary as a gender-neutral way to refer to someone whose identity is unclear or whose life is hypothetical. What's different is that it's already being used as a pronoun for those who identify as nonbinary, NBC reported.