[9YearLurker]

“The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2008) is the third edition of The MLA Style Manual, first published by the Modern Language Association of America in 1985”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_MLA_Style_ManualBirds don’t communicate?

And there’s nothing in the use of ‘who’ that suggests a person. It suggests a sentient agent, which is what an animal is, without implying an animal is a person.

And I stand by my view that you are ever stuck to this arbitrary and illogical rule that you were taught in grade school. There’s no other reasonable explanation for becoming a grammar police for a dated and now little-used rule.

[familyop]

"And I stand by my view that you are ever stuck to this arbitrary and illogical rule that you were taught in grade school. There’s no other reasonable explanation for becoming a grammar police for a dated and now little-used rule."

That's illogical, dishonest and hysterical. I criticized an error committed by the writer of the article over this thread, and you reacted with a personal display. If you want to begin learning, work through an applied English text.

I edited for graduates and publications before becoming too disgusted to continue babysitting affected feminists and other non-analytical minds. As for the MLA, it started in the 1800s and has published other references since then. I used MLA publications before 1985. Discuss it further with yourself.