DANIEL PRESTON JULY 21, 2010

Pronouns and their Antecedents

 Pronouns are words that refer to nouns. ( I, he, it, she).  Antecedent is the name for the noun to which a pronoun refers.

 Dr. Ava Betro finished her rounds.  Pronoun  her  Antecedent  Dr. Ava Betro  The hospital interns finished their rounds.  Pronoun  their  Antecedent  interns

 Anybody  Anyone  Each  Either  Everybody  Everyone  Everything  Neither  No one  Someone  Something  As it is with subject-verb agreement, these pronouns should be treated as singular in formal English.  Plural pronouns should not refer to singular antecedents.

 Everyone wants to rule their world.  Identify the Pronoun:  Their  Identify the antecedent  Everyone

 In class everyone performs at their own fitness level.  WRONG  The singular indefinite pronoun everyone (antecedent) requires a singular pronoun.  In class everyone performs at his or her own fitness level.  RIGHT

 When plural pronouns refer to a singular antecedent:  Replace the pronoun with ‘ he or she’ (or ‘his or her’)  Make the antecedent plural  Rewrite the sentence.

EEveryone wants to rule their world. EEveryone wants to rule his or her world. RRuling the world is something everyone wants.

 When someone has been drinking, they are likely to speed.  When someone has been drinking, he or she is likely to speed.  When drivers have been drinking, they are likely to speed.  A driver who has been drinking is likely to speed.

 Represent typical members of groups (i.e. students, lawyers, teachers).  Although they may seem plural, treat each instance as a singular noun.  Every runner must train rigorously if he or she wants to excel.

EEvery lawyer cheats their clients out of money. EEvery lawyer cheats his or her clients out of money. SSome lawyers cheat clients out of money.

 Treat most compound antecedents connected by ‘and’ as plural  Jill and John moved to Luray, where they built a cabin.

 If compound antecedents are joined by either, or, neither or nor, make the pronoun agree with the nearer antecedent. This is particularly important when one part of the antecedent is singular and the other is plural.  Neither Tom nor his brothers could find their way home from the woods.  ‘brothers’ is plural and closer to the pronoun in question, therefore use the plural pronoun ‘their’ versus ‘his’.

 If compound antecedents are joined by either, or, neither or nor, make the pronoun agree with the nearer antecedent except when the compound antecedent contains different genders.  ‘Either Jack or Jill should win first prize for her poem’.  Picking a single gender here for the pronoun would cause confusion. In these cases, the sentence should be rewritten.  First place in the poetry competition should be given to Jack or Jill.

 Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch their pail of water.  Correct  Either Jack or Jill went up the hill to fetch their pail of water.  Either Jack or Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.