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Parts of Speech -Noun Gender

Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher," can refer to men or women.

Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender

A man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress" but this use of gender-specific nouns is very rare today.

Those that are still used occasionally tend to refer to occupational categories, as in the following sentences.
 

David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor.
Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s.
 

The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress"