1 / 6

Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement

Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement. Person, number, and gender in pronoun-antecedent agreement. Person Singular Plural First I we Second you you Third he, she, it they

muriel
Download Presentation

Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement

  2. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • Person, number, and gender in pronoun-antecedent agreement. • Person Singular Plural First I we Second you you Third he, she, it they • Gender: 1) Masculine: he, him, himself; 2) Feminine: she, her, herself; 3) Neuter: it, itself

  3. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • 1) Antecedents joined by and usually take plural nouns. • Ex: Anne and Jane sold their textbooks. • Ex: Mr. Keeble and I cannot settle our dispute. • Exception: When the compound antecedent refers to single person, idea, or thing, then the pronoun is singular. • Ex: My brother and friend offered his help.

  4. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • 2) When parts of an antecedent are joined by orornor, the pronoun agrees with the nearer part. • Ex: Either Anne or Jane left her umbrella. • When one antecedent is plural and the other singular, the sentence will be awkward unless you put the plural antecedent second. • Ex: Neither the principal nor the parents have made their choice.

  5. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • 3) With an indefinite word as antecedent, use a singular or plural pronoun as appropriate. • Ex: Neither of the Girl Scouts paid her fee. (Neither is singular.) • Ex: Each of the men succeeded in his chosen career. (Each is singular.) • Ex: Everyone took his or her seat. (Everyone is singular.) • Ex: All the students took their seats. (All is plural.) • Avoid using the pronouns he, him, and his to refer to antecedents of unspecified gender.

  6. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • 4) Collective noun antecedents take singular or plural pronouns depending on meaning. • When the group acts as one unit, the pronoun is singular. • Ex: The herd of cows is too cramped in its small pasture. • When the members of a group act separately, the pronoun is plural. • Ex: The couple divided their belongings.

More Related