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What is the difference between them and em?

them | em |

As pronouns the difference between them and em

is that them is third personal plural pronoun used after a preposition or as the object of a verb while em is (neologism) them (singular).

As a determiner them

is (nonstandard) those.

As a noun em is

.

them

English

(wikipedia them)

Pronoun

    • Give it to them . (after preposition)
    She wrote them a letter. (indirect object)
    She treated them for a cold. (direct object)
    • If someone comes and asks for the ticket, just give it to them . (after preposition)
    If one of my patients calls, please bring them their dinner. (indirect object)
    If a student has an inappropriate question, whatever you do, do not berate them . (direct object)
  • * 1611 , King James Bible , :
    • If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, [t]hen shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
  • *
  • *

    • Usage notes

    * Regarding the use of singular them , see they .

    Related terms

    * their * theirs * they * themself * themselves

    See also

    (English personal pronouns)

    Determiner

    (en determiner)
  • (dialectal) those
  • * 2005 , Elmer Kelton, Sons of Texas , Tor/Forge (2005), page 111:
    • " Them two wild horses ain't fit to ride, and I been wonderin' how I was goin' to get you out of this place before them Spanish maybe circle back and finish the job."
  • *
    • Them kids need to grow up.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English personal pronouns English plural pronouns English third person pronouns English words affected by prescriptivism ----

    em

    English

    Etymology 1

    The typographic em is named after the metal type for the capital (M) in early printing, whose body was square (the printed letter M is almost never one em in width).

    Noun

    (en noun)
    • The ems and ens at the beginnings and ends.
  • (typography) A unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.
    • Synonyms
    * (typography) quad, em quad * (typography) mutton, mut
    Derived terms
    * emcee * em dash

    See also

    *

    Etymology 2

    (Spivak pronouns) Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from (them), perhaps influenced by (term, 'em).

    Pronoun

  • (neologism) them (singular).
  • * {{quote-book
    • , date = 1986-04-01 , title = The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMS-TeX macro package , first = Michael , last = Spivak , location = Providence , publisher = American Mathematical Society , page = 68 , isbn = 0821829998 , id = , lccn = 85007506 , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kXzxAAAAMAAJ&q=up+to+Em+to+indicate+Eir , passage = If the author uses such notation, it should be up to Em to indicate Eir intentions clearly, but there's no harm checking first. }}
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 1997 , title = Doom Patrols : A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism , first = Steven , last = Shaviro , publisher = Serpent's Tail , location = London , isbn = 9781852424305 , lccn = 9668813 , page = 138 , passage = I may become quite intimate with someone, spend hours with em every night, and yet not have the slightest idea what eir voice sounds like, or what eir RL body looks, feels, and smells like. }}
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 2000 , chapter = Ethics, Plugged and Unplugged: The Pegagogy of Disorderly Conduct , first = Jane , last = Love , title = Taking flight with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work , editors = Inman, James A.; Sewell, Donna N. , publisher = Taylor & Francis , isbn = 0805831711 , id = , page = 193 , passage = E invites em to consider how ey represent emselves(SIC), and in so doing, e focuses eir attention on the ethics that make human relations possible. , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=aFKqSzIxCLkC&pg=PA193 }}
  • * {{quote-web
    • , date = 2011-03-15 , title =
  • 89: New Friend
    • , blog = Riot Nrrd , first = RJ , last = Edwards , url = http://www.riotnrrdcomics.com/2011/03/89-new-friend/ , accessdate = 2012-10-06 , passage = And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowing eir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgender em . }}
    Synonyms
    * him or her, * (singular) them * (neologism) hir
    Derived terms
    * (neologism) emself

    See also

    * other gender-neutral pronouns

    Etymology 3

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (Scotland, Ireland) a form of hesitant speech, or an expression of uncertainty; um; umm; erm
    • She was going to, em ... the salon, I think.

    Anagrams

    * English two-letter words English third person pronouns ----