In English, however, nouns are not in themselves masculine or feminine. They do not have grammatical gender, though they may refer to male or female people or animals:
| the waiter is very prompt | ~the waitress is very prompt |
| the lion roars at night | ~the lioness roars at night |
These distinctions in spelling reflect differences in sex, but they have no grammatical implications. For instance, we use the same form of an adjective whether we are referring to a waiter or to a waitress:
| an efficient waiter | ~an efficient waitress |
Similarly, the natural distinctions reflected in such pairs as brother/sister, nephew/niece, and king/queen have no consequence for grammar. While they refer to specific sexes, these words are not masculine or feminine in themselves.
However, gender is significant in the choice of a personal pronoun to replace a noun:
| John is late | ~He is late |
| Mary is late | ~She is late |
Here the choice of pronoun is determined by the sex of the person being referred to. However, this distinction is lost in the plural:
| John and Mary are late | ~They are late |
| John and David are late | ~They are late |
| Mary and Jane are late | ~They are late |
Gender differences are also manifested in possessive pronouns (his/hers) and in reflexive pronouns (himself/herself).
When the notion of sex does not apply -- when we refer to inanimate objects, for instance -- we use the pronoun it:
| the letter arrived late | ~it arrived late |
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