1. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

2. What is an antecedent? An antecedent is the noun a pronoun stands for.
Ante means before in Latin.
In most sentences, antecedents come before the pronoun they refer to.

3. Antecedents and the pronouns that stand for them should….
Agree in number
Agree in gender

4. Agree in Number Singular pronoun/ singular noun
Plural pronoun/ plural noun
MISMATCH:
A Gryffindor player went to the Quidditch pitch after midnight if they wanted to practice after hours.

5. Oops!
A Gryffindor player went to the Quidditch pitch after midnight if they wanted to practice after hours.
The plural pronoun they refers to the singular A Gryffindor player.

6. You can fix this by… Making the antecedent plural like the pronoun.
Changing the pronoun to match the singular antecedent.
BETTER: Gryffindor players went to the Quidditch pitch after midnight if they wanted to practice after hours.
ALSO FINE: A Gryffindor player went to the Quidditch pitch after midnight if he or she wanted to practice after hours.

7. Your Turn… Each girl wants to look beautiful on their prom night.
How can we fix this sentence so that the pronoun and antecedent agree?

8. Agree in Gender Feminine pronoun/______________ noun
Masculine pronoun/ ______________ noun
Neutral pronoun/ ________________ noun
Feminine refers to female.
Masculine refers to male.
Neutral refers to things and sometimes animals.

9. Gender can be tricky.
It’s not a good idea to use masculine pronouns in statements that can apply to female or male nouns.
For example: A Slytherin student looks out for himself.
As any HP fan knows, male and female students comprise the Slytherin house. 

10. Better: A Slytherin student looks out for himself or herself.
This can be tricky too. A bunch of “he and she’s” and “him and her’s” can sound busy in several sentences together!

11. Sometimes it’s better to change the antecedent to a plural word so you can use a gender-neutral plural pronoun to refer to it.
BEST: Slytherin students look out for themselves.

12. Your turn…
Our neighbor’s out-of-control, overweight, beast of a dog eats their daily meal in one gulp.
How can we fix this sentence so that the pronoun and antecedent agree?

13. What about this sentence?
A politician can kiss privacy goodbye when he runs for office.
What are our options?

14. A politician can kiss privacy goodbye when he or she runs for office.
Politicians can kiss privacy goodbye when they run for office.
Running for office robs a politician of privacy.

15. Special Pronouns
Use a singular pronoun to refer to anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, somebody, someone, or something.
Use a plural pronoun to refer to both, few, many, or several.
The indefinite pronouns all, any, more, most, none, and some may be singular or plural, depending on how they are used in a sentence.