Being a grammar nerd is one of my proudest titles. Unfortunately, grammar as I was taught is disappearing before my very eyes. Last week I wrote about how the distinction between that and who is going away. Today The Washington Post reported that the American Dialect Society has declared the singular "they" as Word of the Year.

Singular they, which The Post officially adopted in its 2015 Style Guide, is already a common habit in American speech. An example given by The Post: "Everyone wants their cat to succeed." In the sentence, "everyone" is singular and "they" is also treated as singular. The way I was taught, the sentence would have been, "Everyone wants his or her cat to succeed." In this sentence, "everyone" is used with "his or her" because are both singular pronouns.

Today I'm celebrating good grammar. My creative writing mind would have written the sentence this way: "Cat owners want their furry feline friends to succeed." So much better. On second thought, I never would have written a sentence about cats succeeding. It's an absurd thought. And now, I apologize to all my cat-loving friends.