Its или his/her?

[Ekk]

Вопрос:
Производитель или индивидуальный предприниматель передает свое право на....
its right или his/her right??? Вроде как производителя можно посчитать и предприятием, т.е. неодушевленным, а что делать с предпринимателем? Спасибо.

[Romeo]

his

[Аристарх]

В любом случае обычно пишут its. Производителем может являться (как Вы верно заметили) предприятие. Но если это человек, то его пол может быть переводчику неизвестен.

[Ekk]

Thanks!

[AnnaB]

Кстати, в этом отношении заметила два интересных факта:
в американской литературе в случаях, когда пол не известен, пишут her (наверное, чтобы их за дискриминацию не ругали)
а тут еще недавно попался документ британский, так там пишут в таких случаях their! Я вначале никак не могла понять - там предложения такого типа были: The Assistant develops their ....

Ну а так в договорах пишут its, а в простых текстах можно встретить his/her

[ms801]

In AmE, to make something gender-neutral, you usually use "his or her". I don't like this construct because it's too wordy. You can also change your sentence so that you are talking about people in plural and use "their/them/they". In your example, depending on context, I would either change it into plural, or, if that is not an option, use "his or her." I would not use "it", if there is even a slight chance you may be including people in your description of "predprinimatel'".

On the other hand, if you are talking about companies, you can use "it" all you want. Anyway, when you translate it into English, I would assume that you will need to decide what you mean by "predprinimatel". If it is a company, you would probably translate it as "company/enterprise, etc". If you are talking about a person, it would probably be "entrepreneur". In any case, it should become clear from the translation, what you mean.

[Truth Seeker]

You can also use "one" and "one's", as in "One should contact one's lawyer with any concerns"
Anyway, here are some more tips on how to avoid sexist language:http://www.ualr.edu/owl/avoidsexistlanguage.htm

[Graffid]

You should use "their" if you don't know gender! Consult grammar, that's it.

[Truth Seeker]

2 Graffid: It is only axceptable is spoken English.

[ms801]

2 Graffid: In AmE, unfortunately, substitution of "their" for "his or her" is creeping in more and more. So much so that some people advocate its use as acceptable in modern English. Strictly speaking, however, a sentence “You should talk to your child about their friends” instead of “You should talk to your child about his or her friends” sounds really strange to me.

Most reputable style guides discourage the use of “their” as a substitute for “his or her”, while acknowledging that such use seems to be getting more and more acceptable. However, if you are targeting a wide audience with your writing, I would stick to “very strict” grammar rules, which prohibit sentences like the one I gave above. In spoken language, arguably, your grammar can be more relaxed.

[V]

too late.... :-)

entrepreneur - не очень здесь. to use a strict term of the art, i would perhaps say "sole trader" - т.е. то, что мы называем ПБОЮЛ (предпр. без образ. юрлица)

стоит также учесть, что в РФ "(индивидуальный) предприниматель" - никак не может быть "компанией"