Gender of word

Question

Although I understand this lesson, the quiz question  "What is the gender of the word ____" seems to vague.  My understanding is that, with living things, the gender of the word is determined by the gender of the person/animal etc it refers to.  Therefore, without a pronoun or phrase to clarify, it seems to me the correct answer should be "don't know".  Obviously, except in some very rare situations, "both" seems inaccurate.  Would it be more "on point" to ask thequestion using a phrase?

Inma Sánchez · Answer

Hola DougIt is true that with living things the gender of the word is determined by the gender of the person or animal, like you are saying, e.g "el perro, la perra", el camarero, la camarera", "el actor, la actriz", etc but some nouns only admit one gender, like some abstract nouns, "la verdad", "la democracia", "el paisaje"..However I can see why you are finding the test confusing. We are going to improve the questions related to this lesson to make it more clear and less ambiguous.Gracias y un saludo.Inma

Emanuel Beska · Answer

Shouldn't the second sentence contain dijo instead of dice? There seems to be a mistake.