I need to check if there are any mistakes in the sentences below.
The dog used his sense of smell to find his way home.
We need to eat a variety of food to get all the important vitamins and minerals to stay healthy.
Mandy ran into Jessica’s room shouting because she was very excited as it was the first day of the summer holidays.
The dog used its sense of smell to find its way home.
We need to eat a variety of foods to get all the important vitamins and minerals that keep us healthy.
Mandy ran into Jessica’s room screaming with excitement because it was the first day of summer vacation.
“The dog used his sense of smell to find his way home.”
vs
“The dog used its sense of smell to find its way home.”
I think this is cultural rather than grammatical. In the US we typically use gender pronouns for pets and possibly other animals. I remember talking to a guy from another country who thought that was crazy to use gender pronouns for animals.
That’s not crazy at all, because they use gender pronouns for pets in Britain and also in Belgium and Holland. I assume they use them in Germany and many other countries too. And as you say, if the gender is unknown, ‘it’ is indeed fine.
The person who told me this was French. He claimed they didn’t use gender pronouns in France. Of course he was just one person and it might not be true.
How would it even work with Romance languages. If “el gato” is cat in Spanish, how do you add a gender pronoun? You can’t say “la el gato” or “su el gato”. Or can you? The languages you just mentioned are Germanic languages which don’t have all the el, la, le, los, las, etc. So how would it even work? You have senior and senora for people, but how does it work for el gato?
By the way, don’t take this too seriously. I’m just messing around.