Agreement of Pronoun and Antecedent

1. Agreement of Pronoun and Antecedent A pronoun usually refers to a noun or another pronoun that comes before it.

2. The word that a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent. • Colette performs her solo today. • James makes his lunch every day. • The showhas the Old West as itstheme.

3. Sometimes you have to look at the prep. Phrase to determine gender. • One of the women in the acting class designs her own costumes. “One” is the antecedent, but it is neutral. “women” is in the prep. Phrase. “her” is the proper feminine pronoun to use.

4. Looking at the prep. Phrase (cont.) 2. Each of the boys rode his bicycle to school. “Each” is the neutral antecedent. “boys” is the masculine noun in the prep. phrase “his” is the appropriate masculine pronoun to use.

5. Not sure if the antecedent is masculine or feminine? Use both pronouns! • Every one of the students shouted his or her approval. • A person should always choose his or her friends carefully.

6. Don’t like using both pronouns? Make your sentence plural and use “their”. Instead of: Everyone of the students shouted his or her approval. Write: All of the students shouted their approval. How would you rewrite this sentence? A person should always choose his or her friends carefully.

7. Answer: People should always choose their friends carefully.

8. Use a singular pronoun for the following antecedents: • Each • Either • Neither • One • Everyone • Everybody • Anyone • Anybody • Someone • Somebody • No one • nobody

9. EXAMPLES: • Someone left his or her hat on the field. • One of the parakeets escaped from its cage.

10. Antecedents joined by “or” or “nor” need a singular pronoun. • Neither Richard norBob distinguished himself in the finals. • PaulaorJanet will present her views on the subject. Sentences with mixed genders sound like this: 1. BenorMaya will read his or her report.

11. Identifying Antecedents and Writing Pronouns: • A person should always try _________ best. • The uniform company finally sent Jerome and Ken the shirts that ________ ordered. • Claire or Ida will go to the nursing home early so that __________ can help the residents into the lounge. • Several of the volunteers contributed _________ own money.

12. (Continued) 5. Are you sure that each of the contestants answered ___________ questions correctly? 6. Both of the girls packed _________ suitcases carefully for the trip. 7. Everyone on the baseball team wore a name tag on ____________ jacket. 8. Neither of the women withdrew ________ job application.

13. (Still Continued) 9. Anyone can belong if _________ is interested. 10. All of the puppies have cried ________ to sleep.

14. Proofreading for Antecedent – Pronoun Agreement: • George has chosen Walt Disney as the subject of his report. • Several other people in our class have also submitted his or her topics. • Dominic, one of the Perrone twins, has chosen Alfred Hitchcock as their subject. • Neither George nor Dominic will have difficulty finding material for their report.

15. (Continued) 5. Each of these moviemakers’ films has left their mark on the entertainment world. 6. Both Ming Chin and Sue offered their help with proofreading to George and Dominic. 7. Each boy refused politely, saying that they would proofread the report on their own. 8. Does everyone, including George and Dominic, know that they must assemble facts, not opinions?

16. (Still Continued) 9. Neither George nor Dominic should forget to include anecdotes about their subject. 10. Nobody likes to discover that they just read a list of dull facts about an interesting subject.