Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Learning Objectives

In this workshop, you will focus on the following objectives:
Grammar:

• Understanding how to use correct pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Pronoun Reference

Correct pronoun reference is agreement of a pronoun with its antecedent in person, number, and gender.

Literature Connection 

In this line from “A Storm in the Mountains,” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes the speaker’s experience in the first person plural. 

“We crawled out of our tents and ran for shelter as it came towards us over the ridge.”

—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, from “A Storm in the Mountains”

The quotation is an example of correct pronoun reference because the pronouns our and us are the same person (first, second, and third), number, and gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) as the subject of the sentence, we. Incorrect pronoun reference is the use of a pronoun that has an unclear antecedent or does not agree with its antecedent.

Examples

• Problem
  A pronoun has an unclear antecedent in a sentence.
  The prisoner gave his cellmate his book.
  They sent Solzhenitsyn to a prison camp.
  
  Solution
  Replace the pronoun with an appropriate noun.
  The prisoner gave his cellmate the cellmate’s book.
  The government sent Solzhenitsyn to a prison camp.
  
  
• Problem
  A pronoun does not agree with its antecedent.
  A writer must choose what they include in their work.
  
  Solution
  Replace the pronoun with one that agrees with its antecedent or reword the sentence.
  A writer must choose what to include in his or her work.
  Writers must choose what they include in their work.
  

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement Quiz