text: can i use the word "their" as opposed to saying "his or hers"? i can't remember if this is acceptable or not.. since i use it like 5 times in this sentence if i say "his/her" for every single time then i'll have to just scrap it, but that's gonna be a pain because this is my entire thesis and i don't wanna reword it. this is from my essay on cat's cradle for english (12th grade college-level english class but the teacher isn't extremely strict with grammar)   "regardless of whether or not anything accomplished by an individual in their lifetime in the way of spirituality leads to anything after their death other than a funeral befitting their chosen faith, if one chooses to believe because it brings them solace, then it has served an equal – perhaps even a greater – purpose." i truly think that instead of their's you should use one's.  for example:  one's (his or hers) best approach to solving this problem is to use one's.  make sense?