The use of they/them to identify a single person, rather than two or more people, has not been without controversy.Maryland state education official Andy Smarick made headlines earlier this month after sharing his thoughts via Twitter on Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s use of the singular “they” when referring to one of the dictionary’s staffers.“The singular they is an affront to grammar. Language rules are all that separates us from animals. We. Must. Stand. Firm,” Smarick wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted.The dictionary retorted in a tweet: “Then you’re talking to the wrong dictionary — we’re descriptivists. We follow language, language doesn’t follow us.”