Hello everybody,
One day, I was looking up the word "soft-soap" in the Longman Interactive English Dictionary (2nd edition).
I found the following:
soft-soap: to say nice things to someone in order to persuade them to do something, change their mind.
Please, look at the bold words (someone - them - their), I think "someone" is singular and I used to use it like that.
e.g. Someone enters the room. (enters not enter).
Could you explain, please?
Singular or Plural
Moderators: kokoyaya, Beaumont
Singular or Plural
flowers may die,
rivers may dry,
you may forget me but never I,
cause I love you.
rivers may dry,
you may forget me but never I,
cause I love you.
I've often wondered about this. An alternative would be to say "to say nice things to someone in order to persuade him / her to do something, change his / her mind." and always say he/she, him/her etc, however I just think that since it's easier to use they/them/their (and it doesn't say whether the person referred to is male/female) using the 3rd person plural has become an accepted way of doing it 
That's my opinion
However, in a case such as "Someone has left their shoes behind", which could give the impression that someone has left other people's shoes behind, I believe "Someone has left his / her shoes behind" is more likely to be used.
And you're correct - someone is singular. You'd say someone is here, someone has done this, etc.
That's my opinion
However, in a case such as "Someone has left their shoes behind", which could give the impression that someone has left other people's shoes behind, I believe "Someone has left his / her shoes behind" is more likely to be used.
And you're correct - someone is singular. You'd say someone is here, someone has done this, etc.