Is they the plural of it?

‘It’ and ‘they’ are both personal pronouns in English. Their most obvious difference is that ‘it’ is a singular pronoun, and ‘they’ is a plural one.

Grammatically, They is used as a plural pronoun, a word that’s used to describe multiple people, places, or things.

In a nutshell, The plural forms of the word “it” are “they,” “them,” or “their,” Representing the subjective, objective, and possessive cases, respectively. However, in some cases, “it” cannot have a plural form, like an abstract noun or mass noun.

This might be the most common mistake we see. When referring to a company or organization in writing, The organization in question should always be referred to as an “it,” not a “they.” Unless, of course, you’re referring to the actual people who work there. Simply put, people are “they,” and a thing is an “it.”

APA endorses the use of “they” as a singular third-person pronoun in the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. This means It is officially good practice in scholarly writing to use the singular “they.”

The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to 1375, where it appears in the medieval romance William and the Werewolf. Except for the old-style language of that poem, its use of singular they to refer to an unnamed person seems very modern. Here’s the Middle English version: ‘Hastely hiȝed eche . . .

The singular “they” is a generic third-person singular pronoun in English.
…
Forms of the singular “they”

“It” is a neuter pronoun that takes the place of a noun The plurals of “it” are: Subjective – “they” Objective – “them” Possessive – “their” Helpful(1)

How to Choose between ‘It’ and ‘Them’? If you want to decide which one to use, always stick to one simple rule: ‘It’ refers to a singular noun, and ‘them’ refers to a plural noun.

They are normally referred back to using “they”, even in those cases when the original antecedent is treated as a singular. Examples: A team, a posse, a council, a fraternity, a silent majority, etc. Human beings are never referred to as it.

As with the Apple example above, When referring to the entity as an entity, use it: Apple is a global company. It is worth over a trillion dollars.

The idea that there are only two genders is sometimes called a “gender binary,” because binary means “having two parts” (male and female). Therefore, “non-binary” is one term people use to describe Genders that don’t fall into one of these two categories, male or female.

Because these folks don’t identify with the two genders in the binary, and we haven’t created a new language for other genders, many nonbinary individuals will take on they/them pronouns Because they’re already ungendered words.

Though some early-21st-century style guides described it as colloquial and less appropriate in formal writing, by 2020 Most style guides accepted the singular they as a personal pronoun.

According to The Oxford English Dictionary, the singular they showed up in writing in 1375—over 600 years ago! The OED also suggests the usage is even older since written language usually reflects trends already present in spoken language.

In December 2019, Merriam-Webster chose singular they as word of the year. The word was chosen because “English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone or someone, and as a consequence they has been used for this purpose for over 600 years.”

“They are” is still the correct choice when referring to a single person, rather than “they is.” When someone tells you that their pronouns are they and them, it means that instead of referring to the person as he/him or she/her, you’re being asked to refer to the person as they/them.

The last of this trio, their, is the possessive form of they, so It has to do with what belongs to, relates to, or is made or done by certain people, animals, or things: It’s their house. We’re their neighbors.