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Noun/PronounAgreement
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Noun/Pronoun Agreement
Nounsname persons, places, or, things.
Pronounsare words that take the place of nouns. Infact, the
wordpronoun means for a noun.
Pronouns are shortcuts that keep you from
unnecessarily repeating words in writing. Here aresome eamples
of pronouns!
"ddie left hiscamera on the #us.
$Hisis a pronoun that takes the place of Eddies.%
"lena drank the co&ee e'en though it wascold. $Itreplaces
cofee.%
As I turned the newspaper(s damp pages, theydisintegrated in my
hands.
$Theyis a pronoun that takes the place of pages.%
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)here are two common mistakes people make withpronouns. )he
rules are!
*. A pronoun must agree in num#er with the word orwords it
replaces.
+. A pronoun must refer clearly to the word it replaces.
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A pronoun must agree in num#er with the word orwords it
replaces. If the word a pronoun refers to is
singular, the pronoun must #e singular if that word isplural,
the pronoun must #e plural. $Note that theword a pronoun refers to
is known as the antecedent.%
*. -arieshowed me herantiue wedding #and.+. tudentsenrolled in
the art class must pro'ide their
own supplies.
. In the 0rst eample, the pronoun herrefers to thesingular word
Marie. In the second eample, thepronoun theirrefers to the plural
word Students.
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Indefnite Pronouns
)he following words are always singular.
one
no#ody
each
anyone
any#ody
either
e'eryone
e'ery#ody
neither
someone
some#ody
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If a pronoun in a sentence refers to one of thesesingular words
$also known as indefnite pronouns%,the pronoun should #e
singular.
Somebodyleft her shoulder #ag on the #ack of thechair.
Oneof the #us#oys 1ust called and said he would #ean hour
late.
Everyonein the clu# must pay his dues net week.
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"ach underlined pronoun is singular #ecause it refers to
aninde0nite pronoun. )here are two important points to #eremem#ered
a#out inde0nite pronoun.
*. In the last eample, if e'eryone in the clu# was awoman, the
pronoun would #e her. If the clu# hadwomen and men, the pronoun
would #e hisor her.
"'eryone in the clu# must pay his or her dues netweek.
ome writers follow the traditional practice of using his
to refer to #oth women and men. ome now use his or
her to a'oid an implied seual #ias. )o a'oid using hisor the
somewhat awkward his or her, a sentence canoften #e rewritten in
the plural!
2lu# mem#ers must pay their dues net week.
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+. In informal spoken "nglish,pluralpronouns are oftenused with
the inde0nite pronouns. -any peoplewould pro#a#ly not say!
"'ery#ody has his or her own opinion a#out theelection.
Instead, they would likely to say!
"'ery#ody has their own opinion a#out the election.
Here are other eamples!
a% "'eryone in the choir must #uy their ro#es.
#% "'ery#ody in the line has their ticket ready.c% No one in the
class remem#ered to #ring their
#ooks.
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In such cases, the inde0nite pronouns are clearlyplural in
meaning, and using them helps people a'oid
the awkward his or her. In time, the plural pronoun may #e
accepted in formal
speech or writing.
3ntil then, howe'er, you should use thegrammatically correct
singular orm in your
writing.
