OpenStax-CNX module: m38606
1
Pronoun Antecedent Agreement
∗
Gayle Griggs
This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0
†
Abstract
Pronouns substitute nouns and, many times, refer to their antecedents, which are nouns or pronouns
In English, most nouns are neutral in gender and use the pronoun it,
its, or they or their. Nouns that refer to females or males (girl, boy, woman, man, lady, gentleman,
mother, father, brother, sister, proper names of people) take pronouns such as he, she, his, her, or him.
that the pronouns stand for.
A pronoun must always agree with its antecedent in both number and gender.
1 Objectives
Students will learn about pronoun-antecedent agreement. They will be able to locate the antecedent for each
pronoun, and determine whether the pronoun should be neutral, gender specic, singular, or plural.
Students will learn that "he
or she " should be used with indenite singular pronouns that refer to a specic
type of person (doctor, lawyer, engineer, representative) in order to avoid sexist language. Furthermore, when
writing, students should consider replacing antecedents that refer to persons into the plural form to avoid
overusing he
or she in sentences.
Students will also learn that compound subjects using and use the plural form of pronouns.
For
compound subjects joined by neither -nor or either -or , the pronoun should agree with the antecedent
closest to the subject. In the below example, the antecedents/pronouns are in bold print.
teacher and the students will attend their graduation ceremony.
Either/Neither the teacher or/nor the students will attend their graduation ceremony.
that is
Example: The
2 Teaching strategies:
The instructor should review personal, possessive, indenite singular and indenite plural pronouns, and
collective nouns with the students (see tables below). Students need to learn that personal pronouns are
classied as subjects or objects of a sentence depending on where they are located in a sentence. Possessive
pronouns can serve as adjectives to modify nouns (used before the noun), or to indicate ownership.
∗
†
Version 1.2: Jul 13, 2011 2:51 pm -0500
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OpenStax-CNX module: m38606
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PERSONAL & POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
SUBJECT OBJECT POSSESSIVE (used before a noun) POSSESSIVE PRONOUN
I
Me
My
Mine
You
You
Your
Yours
He
Him
His
His
She
Her
Her
Hers
It
It
Its
Its
We
Us
Our
Ours
You
You
Your
Yours
They
Them
Their
Theirs
Table 1
The following indenite pronouns are
always singular in number:
Indenite Singular Pronouns
Anybody
Each
Everyone
Nobody
Somebody
Anyone
Either
Everything
No one
Someone
Anything
Everybody
Neither
Nothing
Something
Table 2
The table below provides pronouns that may be either singular or plural pronouns:
INDEFINITE SINGULAR OR PLURAL PRONOUNS
PLURAL
SINGULAR OR PLURAL (depending on the noun it represents)
Both
All
Some
Few
Any
More
Many
Either
Most
Several
None
Table 3
Collective nouns are usually singular unless the meaning is plural, when its members function as individuals. Below are common collective nouns to share with the students:
http://cnx.org/content/m38606/1.2/
OpenStax-CNX module: m38606
3
COLLECTIVE NOUNS
Army
Committee
Herd
Number
Audience
Crew
Jury
Pack
Band
Crowd
Kind
Pair
Bunch
Dozen
Litter
Public
Class
Galaxy
Lot
Sta
Company
Group
Majority
Team
Couple
Heap
Minority
Tribe
Table 4
The instructor should review all material prior to teaching this lesson. In the slide show, the denition of
pronoun-antecedent agreement is provided. Students should learn to identify the antecedent to a pronoun,
and the pronoun itself: personal, possessive, indenite singular, or indenite plural. In addition, students
should understand that collective nouns are usually singular but may be plural depending on whether its
members function as a whole or as individuals.
The PowerPoint presentation provides the above-mentioned rules for pronoun-antecedent agreement.
Four interactive practice slides (# 4, # 6, # 8, and # 12) oer in-class practice activities for the instructor
to review with the class.
Each practice sentence is animated individually so that the instructor can ask
students to select the correct answer within the options that are given.
After students respond, with a
mouse click, the correct answer appears. The following general rules to pronoun-antecedent agreement are
emphasized in the nal slides of the PowerPoint presentation (slides # 13 and #14):
1. All pronouns have antecedents, which refer to person(s) or object(s) that are previously mentioned in
the text.
2. Singular antecedents use singular pronouns.
3. Plural antecedents use plural pronouns.
4. Avoid sexist language; instead, use gender-neutral & plural antecedents (persons, individuals, students,
people, human beings, postal workers, coordinators).
5. The gender of a pronoun must match its antecedent: Diana waited for
her
husband.
6. Most indenite pronouns are singular.
7. Generic nouns (doctor, student, writer, member, person) represent both males and females. A college
student has
his or her
own point of view.
8. Change generic nouns to plural to x agreement problems. College students have
their
own points
of view.
9. Collective nouns are usually singular unless the people in the collective group act as individuals.
10. If you're not sure, look it up!
3 Materials:
In order to oer this lesson, instructors need a computer and a multi-media projector.
The following materials are provided with this module:
1
1. PowerPoint slide show
2. A hand-out of the slide show for students
1
2
after they receive the lesson2
http://academic.uprm.edu/ggriggs/Pron-Ant/Pronoun-Antecedent%20Agreement.ppsx
http://academic.uprm.edu/ggriggs/Pron-Ant/Handout-Pronoun-Antecedent%20Agreement.pdf
http://cnx.org/content/m38606/1.2/
OpenStax-CNX module: m38606
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3. Two practice sheets with pronoun-antecedent agreement exercises:
Agreement
3
Practice I-Pronoun-Antecedent
4
; Practice II-Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
5
4. Answer sheets for the two practice exercises: Answers-Practice I
and Answers-Practice II
6
4 Assessment:
The authors recommend that the instructor distribute the practice sheets to the students as a pre-test prior
to receiving the lesson.
After completing the lesson, students should answer the practice sheets again as
a post-test. In this way, instructors may determine whether the students master this objective or require
additional instructional support.
3
4
5
6
http://academic.uprm.edu/ggriggs/Pron-Ant/Practice%20I-Pronoun-Antecedent.pdf
http://academic.uprm.edu/ggriggs/Pron-Ant/Practice%20II-Pronoun-Antecedent.pdf
http://academic.uprm.edu/ggriggs/Pron-Ant/Answers-Practice%20I-Pronoun-Antecedent.pdf
http://academic.uprm.edu/ggriggs/Pron-Ant/Answers-Practice%20II-Pronoun-Antecedent.pdf
http://cnx.org/content/m38606/1.2/