Pronoun-antecedent agreement is a fundamental grammar rule requiring a pronoun to match its antecedent in number, person, and gender to ensure clarity.
Nouns name persons, places, or things. Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. In fact, the word pronoun means “for a noun”. Pronouns are shortcuts that keep you from unnecessarily repeating words in writing. A pronoun usually refers to or replaces its antecedent (a noun or a pronoun previously mentioned). A pronoun and its antecedent should agree in number (singular or plural), person (first, second, or third), and gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter).
1. Indefinite Pronouns as Antecedents
The indefinite pronoun antecedents such as anyone, anybody, anything, each, everyone, everybody, everything, someone, somebody, no one, nothing and nobody are usually singular. Singular pronoun should be used to refer to them.
Wrong: If anybody happen to call while I am out of the office, please have them leave a message for me.
Correct: If anybody happens to call while I am out of the office, please have him or her leave a message for me.
Indefinite pronouns such as all, any, most, none, and some can take either singular or plural pronouns, depending on their meaning in the sentence.
Some of the customers complain that they are not happy with the way they have been treated in that restaurant.
Some of the food served in that restaurant is left over from the day before, so it tastes stale.
Useful Tips
In speech and in informal writing, many people use the plural pronouns they or their with singular indefinite pronouns that refer to people, such as someone, everyone, and nobody.
Everyone released their seat belts.
In college writing, however, you should try to avoid using a plural pronoun to refer to a singular subject. Instead, you can use both the masculine and the feminine pronoun.
Everyone released his or her seat belt.
Or, you can make the sentence’s subject plural.
All passengers released their seat belts.
The use of his alone to refer to a singular indefinite pronoun (Everyone released his seat belt) is considered sexist language.
2. Antecedents Joined by Conjunctions
When antecedents are joined by conjunctions such as or, nor, either…or, neither…nor, both…and, not only…but also, the pronoun agrees with the antecedent which is closer.
Neither Professor John Smith nor Professor Mary Green has come to pick up her ticket for the party yet.
3. Collective Noun Antecedents
Collective noun antecedents such as family, team, jury, audience, class, association, and committee use a singular pronoun when they act as a unit and a plural pronoun when they refer to individual members.
The Board of Directors is confident of its plan to increase the company’s market share by 20% by the end of the year.
The Board of Directors couldn’t reach an agreement among themselves whether they should implement the plan to increase the company’s market share by 20% by the end of the year.
4. Who, Which, and That
In general, who refers to people or to named animals. Which and that refer to things or to unnamed animals. Be sure to use which in nonrestrictive clauses, which are always set off with commas. In most cases, use that in restrictive clauses, which are not set off with commas. Who may be used in both restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses.
Alexander Dumas, who wrote The Three Musketeers, once fought a sword duel in which his pants fell down.
These apple trees, which I planted three years ago, have not borne any fruit.
The letter that came this morning is from my teacher of English.
Exercise
Write the appropriate pronoun (their, her, his, its, them, it, he, she, they) in the blank in each of the following sentences.
I peeled off my sweaty bandanna and dipped ______ into the cool stream.
Karen sanded the cabinets and coated ______ with clear varnish.
Since my parents retired, ______ h ave started to share the household chores.
Waiting in the stalled school bus, the children threw ______ books out of the windows and lobbed potato chips at each other.
Girls! Did everyone remember to bring ______ insect repellent?
If any student wants to apply for the scholarship offered by the women’s college, ______ will need two recommendations.
Either type of video recording system has ______ drawbacks.
Anyone can pass our men’s physical education course if ______ will laugh at all the instructor’s jokes.
All women leaving the room should pick up ______ lab reports.
During the fire, any one of those men could have lost ______ balance on that narrow ledge.
Key Takeaways
- Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in number, person, and gender.
- Indefinite pronoun antecedents like anyone and everyone are usually singular and require singular pronouns.
- When antecedents are joined by conjunctions like either…or or neither…nor, the pronoun agrees with the closer antecedent.
- Collective nouns take singular pronouns when acting as a unit and plural pronouns when referring to individual members.
- Use who for people/named animals and which or that for things/unnamed animals.
Quick Practice
Test your knowledge of pronoun-antecedent agreement! Write your answers to the following questions in the comments below:
- What pronoun fits best in this sentence: "Karen sanded the cabinets and coated ______ with clear varnish."?
- How would you correct an indefinite pronoun mismatch where an antecedent like everyone is followed by their in college writing?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is pronoun-antecedent agreement?
It is the grammatical rule stating that a pronoun must match its antecedent (the word it replaces) in number, person, and gender.
Are indefinite pronouns singular or plural?
Indefinite pronouns such as anyone, everybody, and someone are usually singular and require singular pronouns, whereas words like all or some can be singular or plural depending on context.
How do you handle antecedents joined by conjunctions?
When antecedents are joined by conjunctions like either...or or neither...nor, the pronoun should agree with the antecedent that is closer to it.