02-04-2012, 02:06 AM
It's about the gender of a noun. It's different with a lot of languages where even objects are male or female (such as French or Dutch), but in English it's very simple really. Nouns that refer to a female (queen, bitch) should be referred to with 'her' while words that refer to a male (stallion, actor) require 'his'. Nouns that are about a group or an object require 'it'. There is an exception: nouns that are associated with violence or power (sun, death) are also male.
I think you're pretty much safe if you referred to a flag with 'him', but since it has no gender you should say 'it'
I think you're pretty much safe if you referred to a flag with 'him', but since it has no gender you should say 'it'