Pronoun

Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement

Pronoun

A pronoun is a substitute for a noun. It refers to a person, place, thing, feeling, or quality but does not refer to it by its name. The pronoun in the following sample sentence is bolded.

The critique of Plato's Republic was written from a contemporary point of view. It was an in-depth analysis of Plato's opinions about possible governmental forms.

Antecedent

An antecedent is the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers, understood by the context. The antecedent in the following sample sentence is bolded.

The critique of Plato's Republic was written from a contemporary point of view. It was an in-depth analysis of Plato's opinions about possible governmental forms.

While the pronouns I and you can be replaced by nouns, the context of a sentence does not always require the nouns to make clear to which persons I and you refer. However, the third person pronouns (he, she, it, they) almost always derive their meaning from their antecedents or the words for which they stand. Remember that pronouns in the third person communicate nothing unless the reader knows what they mean:

It is the best source available. What source is that?

Agreement

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in three ways:

· Person refers to the quality of being.

· Number is the quality that distinguishes between singular (one entity) and plural (numerous entities).

· Gender is the quality that distinguishes the entities as masculine or feminine.

Grammar Conflicts

The following are some incorrect sentences. An explanation of the conflicts that some sentences may present in person, number, and gender and some possible solutions to the errors are given.

Person

Incorrect Sentence

If a person wants to succeed in corporate life, you have to know the rules of the game.

Explanation

Antecedent	a person (third person)
Pronoun	you (second person)
Conclusion	no person agreement

Solution

Although the antecedent and the pronoun agree in number, they do not agree in person. This problem can be remedied in two ways.

Solution	Example
Change the second person singular, you, to a third person singular pronoun.	If a person wants to succeed in corporate life, he or she has to know the rules of the game.
Change the third person singular antecedent, a person, to a second person singular antecedent.	If you want to succeed in corporate life, you have to know the rules of the game.

Number

Incorrect Sentence

If anybody wants to succeed in corporate life, they have to know the rules of the game.

Explanation

Antecedent	anybody (third person singular)
Pronoun	they (third person plural)
Conclusion	no number agreement

Solution

Although the antecedent and pronoun agree in person, they do not agree in number. This problem can be remedied in two ways.

Solution	Example
Make the antecedent plural.	If people want to succeed in corporate life, they have to know the rules of the game.
Make the pronoun singular.	If anybody wants to succeed in corporate life, he or she has to know the rules of the game.

Gender

Incorrect Sentence

If a person wants to succeed in corporate life, he has to know the rules of the game.

Explanation

Antecedent	a person (third person neutral singular)
Pronoun	he (third person masculine singular)
Conclusion	no gender agreement

Solution

Even though there is person and number agreement between the antecedent, a person, and the pronoun, he, there is no gender agreement; in other words, the language appears to favor one sex over the other. This problem can be remedied in two ways.

Solution	Example
Replace the pronoun he with he or she.	If a person wants to succeed in corporate life, he or she has to know the rules of the game.
Make the entire sentence plural.	If people want to succeed in corporate life, they have to know the rules of the game.

Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement

Basic Principle: A pronoun usually refers to something earlier in the text (its antecedent) and must agree in number — singular/plural — with the thing to which it refers.

The indefinite pronouns anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, no one, and nobody are always singular. This is sometimes perplexing to writers who feel that everyone and everybody (especially) are referring to more than one person. The same is true of either and neither, which are always singular even though they seem to be referring to two things.

The need for pronoun-antecedent agreement can create gender problems. If one were to write, for instance, "A student must see his counselor before the end of the semester," when there are female students about, nothing but grief will follow. One can pluralize, in this situation, to avoid the problem:

Students must see their counselor before the end of the semester.
Or, one could say
A student must see his or her counselor. . . .

Too many his's and her's eventually become annoying, however, and the reader becomes more aware of the writer trying to be conscious of good form than he or she is of the matter at hand.

Trying to conform to the above rule (#2) can lead to a great deal of nonsense. It is widely regarded as being correct (or correct enough), at the beginning of the twenty-first century, to say

Somebody has left their bag on the floor.

but many people would object its being written that way because somebody is singular and their is plural. There is a great deal to be said, however, for using the word their as the gender-non-specific, singular pronoun. In fact, it's been said already, and you can read all about it at the The University of Texas, where a web-site has been dedicated to the use of their in this way in the writings of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, and other literary greats. At least it's nice to know you're not alone! Another site dedicated to the "gender-free pronoun" is at Gender-Neutral Pronoun Frequently Asked Questions.

Remember that when we compound a pronoun with something else, we don't want to change its form. Following this rule carefully often creates something that "doesn't sound good." You would write, "This money is for me," so when someone else becomes involved, don't write, "This money is for Fred and I." Try these:

This money is for him and me.
This arrangement is between Fred and him.

Those are both good sentences.

One of the most frequently asked questions about grammar is about choosing between the various forms of the pronoun who: who, whose, whom, whoever, whomever. The number (singular or plural) of the pronoun (and its accompanying verbs) is determined by what the pronoun refers to; it can refer to a singular person or a group of people:

The person who hit my car should have to pay to fix the damages.
The people who have been standing in line the longest should get in first.

It might be useful to compare the forms of who to the forms of the pronouns he and they. Their forms are similar:

	Subject Form	Possessive Form	Object Form
Singular	he who	his whose	him whom
Plural	they who	their whose	them whom

To choose correctly among the forms of who, re-phrase the sentence so you choose between he and him. If you want him, write whom; if you want he, write who.

Who do you think is responsible? (Do you think he is responsible?)
Whom shall we ask to the party? (Shall we ask him to the party?)
Give the box to whomever you please. (Give the box to him.)
Give the box to whoever seems to want it most. (He seems to want it most. [And then the clause "whoever seems to want it most" is the object of the preposition "to."])
Whoever shows up first will win the prize. (He shows up first.)

The only problem most writers have with whose is confusing it with who's, which looks like a possessive but is really the contraction for who is. In the same way that we should not confuse his with he's (the contraction for he is or he has), we should not confuse whose with who's.

Who's that walking down the street?
Whose coat is this?
I don't care whose paper this is. It's brilliant!

Whose can be used to refer to inanimate objects as well as to people (although there is a kind of folk belief that it should refer only to humans and other mammals): "I remember reading a book — whose title I can't recall right now — about a boy and a basenji."