Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement What do you need to understand about pronoun-antecedent agreement errors? What’s a pronoun? What’s an antecedent? What’s a pronoun-antecedent agreement error?

What’s a Pronoun? A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or other pronoun It can take the place of a subject word (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) It can take the place of an object word (me, you, him, her, it, us, them) It can take the place of a possessive word (my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs)

What’s an Antecedent? The word that the pronoun replaces. Hermione Granger threw her wand onto the floor (“her” renames Hermione Granger ‖ ). When Ron Weasley saw the wand drop, he picked it up and handed it to her. (“it” renames the wand) Then Ron and Hermione went to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. (“their” renames Ron and Hermione)

Pronouns must agree with their antecedent in three areas: 1) Person 2) Number 3) Gender

Person Here’s a sentence in which the pronoun and the antecedent do not agree in person: If a person wants to succeed at playing baseball, you must practice routinely. Notice the pronoun “you” is 2 nd person, but the antecedent “person” is 3 rd person.

How Can We Fix This? There’s a couple of ways this sentence could be corrected. You could make both the pronoun and the antecedent 2 nd person: “If you want to succeed at playing baseball, you must practice routinely.” You could also change the pronoun to 3 rd person: “If a person wants to succeed at playing baseball, he must practice routinely.”

Number Here’s a sentence in which the pronoun and antecedent do not agree in number: An employee should always agree with their boss. Notice the pronoun “their” is plural, but the antecedent “employee” is singular.

How Can We Fix This? There’s a couple of ways this sentence could be corrected. You could make the pronoun singular: “An employee should always agree with his boss.” You could also make the antecedent plural: “Employees should always agree with their boss.”

Gender Here’s a sentence in which the pronoun and antecedent do not agree in gender: As John stepped down from the train, she lost her footing and stumbled to the ground. Notice the pronouns “she” and “her” are both feminine, while the antecedent “John” is masculine.

How Can We Fix This? There’s a couple of ways this sentence could be corrected. You could make the pronouns masculine: “As John stepped down from the train, he lost his footing and stumbled to the ground.” You could also make the antecedent feminine. “As Mary stepped down from the train, she lost her footing and stumbled to the ground.