Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement Writing Lab Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Basics Antecedent – word that a pronoun replaces or refers to Every pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number and gender Number refers to whether the pronoun and the antecedent are singular or plural Gender refers to whether the pronoun and antecedent are masculine (he, him, his), feminine (she, her, hers), or neuter (it, its)

Examples: Woman The woman has reached her decision. In the sentence above, “woman” is the antecedent and “her” is the pronoun. The two agree with each other both in terms of number (one woman, so a singular pronoun is used) and in terms of gender (woman is feminine, so a feminine pronoun is used)

Examples: His or Her Incorrect: Each voter has reached their decision. Although the pronoun and antecedent are both neuter, because voter is singular, the usage of the plural possessive pronoun their is incorrect. Correct: Each voter has reached his or her decision. His or her is both neuter and singular, so it agrees with the antecedent voter.

Examples: His or Her cont. Incorrect: Each student is responsible for doing their homework. Each is the singular antecedent, but their is plural. Correct: Each student is responsible for doing his or her homework. Each and his or her are both singular.

Examples: Specificity Incorrect: The man walked its dog before going to bed. Man is the singular antecedent, but its is neuter. Correct: The man walked his dog before going to bed. Man and his are both singular and masculine.

That’s all, folks! This lesson is part of the UWF Writing Lab Grammar Mini-Lesson Series Lessons adapted from Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon To find out more, visit the Writing Lab’s website where you can take a self-scoring quiz corresponding to this lesson