they
They can be the subject of a verb. You use they to refer to people or things that have just been mentioned or whose identity is known.
All universities have chancellors. They are always rather senior people.
The women had not expected a visitor and they were in their everyday clothes.
Be careful
When the subject of a sentence is followed by a relative clause, don't use ‘they’ in front of the main verb. Don't say, for example, ‘The people who live next door, they keep chickens’. Say ‘The people who live next door keep chickens’.
When the subject of a sentence is followed by a relative clause, don't use ‘they’ in front of the main verb. Don't say, for example, ‘The people who live next door, they keep chickens’. Say ‘The people who live next door keep chickens’.
Two children who were rescued from a fire are now in hospital.
The girls who had been following him suddenly stopped.
They can refer to people in general, or to a group of people whose identity is not actually stated.
They say that former nurses make the worst patients.
Mercury is the stuff they put in thermometers.
➜ See one - you - we - they
You can also use they instead of ‘he or she’ to refer to an individual person whose sex is not known or not stated.
I was going to stay with a friend, but they were ill.
➜ See he - she - they
Be careful
Don't use ‘they’ with are to say that a number of things exist or are in a particular place. Don't say, for example, ‘They are two bottles of juice in the fridge’. Say ‘There are two bottles of juice in the fridge’.
Don't use ‘they’ with are to say that a number of things exist or are in a particular place. Don't say, for example, ‘They are two bottles of juice in the fridge’. Say ‘There are two bottles of juice in the fridge’.
There are always plenty of jobs to be done.
➜ See there