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students, children, individuals, participants, interviewees, or respondents.
You may still use the terms subjects, subject variables, and subject sample
when discussing statistics or (at least for now) when referring to non-
human participants.
Sex and Gender. The issue of language bias comes up most
frequently with regard to sex or gender, and the most awkward problems

arise from the use of masculine nouns and pronouns when the content
refers to both sexes. The generic use of man, he, his, and him to refer to
both sexes is not only misleading in many instances, but research shows
that readers think of male persons when these forms are used (Martyna,
1978). Sometimes the results are not only sexist, but humorous in their

naive androcentrism: “Man’s vital needs include food, water, and access to
females” (Quoted in Martyna, 1978).
In most contexts, the simplest alternative is the use of the plural.
Instead of writing, “The individual who displays prejudice in his personal
relations...,” write “Individuals who display prejudice in their personal
relations are ...” Sometimes the pronoun can simply be dropped or replaced
by a sex-neutral article (the, a, or an). Instead of writing, “The researcher
must avoid letting his preconceptions bias his interpretation of results,”

you can write, “The researcher must avoid letting preconceptions bias the
interpretation of results.” If it is stylistically important to focus on the
single individual, the use of “he or she,” “him or her,” and so forth is
acceptable but clumsy if used often. Alternating he and she is both
confusing and distracting. Similarly, alternatives like he/she or s/he are

unpronounceable and grate on the eye. Do not use them.
Common Errors of Grammar and Usage
The following errors seem to me to be the most frequent in journal
writing (listed alphabetically):
Compared with versus Compared to. Similar orders of things are
compared with one another; different orders of things are compared to one
another: “Let me not compare thee with previous lovers I have had; rather,

let me compare thee to a summer’s day.” “Mischel’s articles are often
compared with Bandura’s articles; Bem’s articles are often compared to
Mozart’s sonatas.”
Data. The word data is plural: “Analyze those data thoroughly.”
Different from versus Different than. The first is correct, the second,
incorrect (although, alas for us purists, very common and gaining

respectability). The confusion arises because than correctly follows
comparative adjectives. Thus you are correct to suppose that life is more
than psychology, that living a good life is harder in many respects than
writing a good article, and that living well requires broader skills than does
writing well. Just remember that life is different from psychology, that