AGREEMENT OF PRONOUN

AND ANTECEDENT
REPORTERS: PERLITA C. URBINA AND AJI DUMARAN
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT
PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT ERRORS?

* What’s a pronoun?
* What’s an antecedent?
• * What’s a pronoun-antecedent agreement error?
PRONOUN

* It refers to a noun or pronoun or another

pronoun, which is called the pronoun’s
antecedent.
* It should agree in number, gender, and person
with its antecedent.
• A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or other
pronoun

• It can take the place of a subject word

(I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
• It can take the place of an object word
(me, you him, her it, us, them)
• It can take the place of a possessive word
• (my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs)
1. SINGULAR PRONOUNS REFER TO SINGULAR ANTECEDENTS.
PLURAL PRONOUNS REFER TO PLURAL ANTECEDENTS.

SINGULAR
Sammy Davis, Jr., made his movie debut in 1931
PLURAL
The hikers took their canteens with them.
 2. SOME SINGULAR PRONOUNS INDICATE
GENDER

Examples:
• Claire expressed her doubts about the plan.
• Francis gave his mother flowers.
• The ship came loose from its moorings, and it gently drifted out to
sea.
3. PERSON INDICATES WHETHER A PRONOUN REFERS TO THE
ONE SPEAKING (FIRST PERSON), THE ONE SPOKEN TO (SECOND
PERSON), OR THE ONE SPOKEN ABOUT (THIRD PERSON)
FIRST PERSON
I need a transcript of my grades.

SECOND PERSON
Have you fastened your seat belt?

THIRD PERSON
He said they made their own costumes
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

* Some indefinite pronouns are singular,

and some are plural.
Other indefinite pronouns can be either singular or
plural, depending on the meaning.
 1. USE SINGULAR PRONOUNS TO REFER TO THE INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

• anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything,

neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, somebody, someone, and something.
Example:
One of the girls left her sweater on the us.
*If the antecedent may be either masculine or feminine, use both
the masculine and feminine pronouns to refer to it.
Example:
Any interested person may send his or her resume.
NOTE:
In informal situations, plural pronouns are often used to refer to
singular antecedents that can be either masculine or feminine.

INFORMAL
Everybody stayed late at the dance because they were enjoying
themselves.
**Such usage is becoming increasingly popular in writing. In fact, using a
singular pronoun to refer to a singular antecedent that is clearly plural in
meaning may be misleading in some cases.
MISLEADING

Everybody stayed late at the dance because he or she

was enjoying himself or herself.

**(Since Everybody is clearly plural in meaning, the

singular constructions he or she and himself or herself,
though grammatically correct, are confusing.)
NOTE:

In formal situations, it is best to revise such sentences to make

them both clear and grammatically correct.

Example:
All of the students stayed late at the dance because
they were enjoying themselves.
2. Use plural pronouns to refer to the indefinite
pronouns

• both, few, many, and several.

Examples:

Both of the debaters persuasively presented their arguments.

Several of these coins are worth more than their face values.
 3. Use a singular or plural pronoun to refer tothe
indefinite pronoun
• all, any, more, most, none, or some, depending on how it is used in the
sentence
Examples:
Some of the computer terminology is difficult to
understand; perhaps Ms. Alvarez can clarify its meaning.
**Some refers to the singular noun terminology.

Some of the computer terms are difficult to understand;

perhaps Ms. Alvarez can clarify their meanings.
**Some refers to the plural noun terms.
COMPOUND ANTECEDENTS
* Use a plural noun to refer to two or more antecedents
joined by and.
Examples:
If Joann and Benjamin call, tell them that I will not be home until this
evening.
a

**Antecedents joined by and may name only one person, place,

thing or idea. Such a compound antecedent takes a singular
pronoun.
Example:
The corned beef and cabbage was delicious; I ate two servings of it.