Temple of Ranma's Sailor Senshi Seifuku

This is just something that I'm curious about. I can't make up my mind, so I tend to switch between what body he's using and how he sees himself.

The first fits exactly what you want because of the "at the time" qualifier. I made sure to cover that base. ;p

Man, you reminded me of how troublesome it is to use pronouns for now and then scenarios. That's why I avoid them as much as I can. It takes me long enough to construct easy sentences. X_X

No; "at the time" applies to both, in this context. It can refer to both "now" and "then." It shouldn't even be an argument. Especially since "at the time" most often used to express past tense, not present tense (which is what you're choosing to see it as). ;/

Heck, just take my word for it. What could it hurt? It's better than arguing, I imagine.

It depends on which body they're using at the time.

It depends on how they see themselves, regardless of what body they're using.

I think the best way to go is to combine those two options. When you're describing him/her and its not someone talking about or thinking about him/her you should use the gender the person is at the moment. When someone is describing him/her or thinking about him/her you should use the gender they identify him/her as.

That said I voted for the first option because its the one I think fits the best. Can't really use 'it' for him/her because that just dehumanizes him.

You can't combine those two options. If Ranma identified himself as a girl, but was in the male body at the time, or vice versa, what would you call him? ^^;

Spokavriel wrote: What I am trying to say is that there are two different ways people are using At the time.

And that's what I'm trying to say. It can be used both ways, and it's not restricted to using one at a time: the meaning is the same either way.

Come on, people. =_=;

Now you've lost me completely, aside from not knowing what that has to do with the question in the poll.

Personally, I change pronouns for Ranma based off his physical body at the time. Of course, I don't really care too much if another writer does it differently, but this also makes it easier to keep track of what form Ranma is in at any current time.

Spokavriel wrote: ::Groan:: never mind. The only ways to spell it out are more convoluted and who knows if you would remember enough of the fics written that are out there for you to get it anyway. After all you repeatedly have said you don't really read fanfics.

The problem isn't that you need to spell it out, but that it makes no sense regardless of whether you do or not. In part because the question posed has nothing to do with character perspective, which you've somehow assumed, not us as observers. The question was: how do you determine which pronoun to use for Ranma? It's not about how others determine it, how others write it, or even how you would write it (though that's fine). Now, as far as "it depends on which body they're using at the time" is concerned, "the" in "at the time" is not tense-specific, so it can be used interchangeably. If I had used "at this time", which is present-tense, you'd've had an argument to make; but I didn't because it simply doesn't fit within the context of the question, which doesn't ask for any specific point in time.

So, yeah. Why the quality of fan-fiction would have anything to do with this is beyond me. But, hey, I'll even show you how it can work: "Ranma was telling me a story about the time when she had been a guy. Back then, he had all sorts of problems. He didn't know what to do with himself. Now is a different story, though. By now she's sorted out a lot of those problems, and she has even made a decent living for herself." There, see? I used both past and present tense and, both to a reader and an observer, "at the time" applies because it's not tense-specific.

There's nothing else I can say to convince you otherwise, so that's it for me. I tried.

I chose the first option because, that is how I believe it should be done. When Ranma is in female form, I use she, when Ranma is in male form I use he.