Pronouns and Antecedents Matching Number, Person, and Case
What is a Pronoun? “A pronoun is a word that is used in place of one or more nouns” (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston) “Pronouns are words that stand for nouns” (Kollin and Funk)
What is an Antecedent? The antecedent is the noun or noun phrase that the pronoun is replacing. “Ante” means “before, in front of” and “Ced” means “to go”
What is a Personal Pronoun? The ones we usually think of when the word pronoun comes to mind We generally label them on the basis of person and number.
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement When you replace a noun with a pronoun, you must make sure the two are matched in: NUMBER (singular or plural) PERSON (1 st, 2 nd, or 3 rd ) CASE (subjective, possessive, and objective) And sometimes GENDER (male, female, neuter)
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement: Person/Number PERSONNUMBER Singular Plural 1 st [Person(s) speaking]I/MeWe/Us 2 nd [Person(s) spoken to]You 3 rd [Person(s) spoken about]He/She/ItThey
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement: Case Subjective IWeYouHeSheItThey Possessive MyOurYourHisHerItsTheir Objective MeUsYouHimHerItThem