Pronoun Antecedents

An antecedent is the word or group of words to which a pronoun refers or stands for. Basically,  every pronoun must agree with its antecedent in 'person', 'number' and 'gender'.


[1] Agreement in person

An antecedent can be the first, second, or third person; therefore, a writer might make mistake if the wrong pronouns are used incorrectly to refer to each person. Look at the examples,

• I don't like playing video games as you don't get any benefits. (Incorrect)
→ I don't like playing video games as I don't get any benefits. (Correct)
('You' is the second person while 'I' is the first person.)

• My friend and I started a company, and they succeeded in its first product. (Incorrect)
→ My friend and I started a company, and we succeeded in our first product. (Correct)
('My friend and I' is the first person, 'they and its' is the third person.)


[2] Agreement in number

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number — singular/plural. Use singular pronouns to refer to singular antecedents and plural pronouns to refer to plural antecedents. Mistakes might be made when:

a) The pronoun is an indefinite pronoun:

The pronouns another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, little, much, neither, nobody, nothing, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody, something, someone, etc. are singular and used to replace singular antecedents. For example,

• Everyone should be responsible for their jobs. (Incorrect)
→ Everyone should be responsible for his or her jobs. (Correct)
→ All employees should be responsible for their jobs. (Correct)


The pronouns both, few, others, several, etc. are plural and used to replace plural antecedents. For example,

• Several can't complete his or her homework. (Incorrect)
→ Several can't complete their homework. (Correct)

The pronouns all, any, most, none, some, etc. can be both singular and plural depending on context. For examples,

• All of the money is spent.
• All of the kids have left school.

b) Compound antecedents:

Compound antecedents joined by and are plural, and joined by 'or' are singular. for examples,

• John and Jack have just finished their book.
• John or Jack has just finished his book.

If two antecedents are joined by either/or, neither/nor, the pronoun agrees with the antecedent closest to it; for examples,

• Either Bora or his friends will bring their coursebooks. 
• Neither the dogs or the cat has got its feed today.  

c) Antecedent followed by a prepositional phrase:

The pronoun agrees with the antecedent, not the object of the prepositional phrase; for examples,

• Each of the books has their different cover. (Incorrect)
→ Each of the books has its different cover. (Correct)

d) Collective antecedents:

Collective noun can be either singular or plural, depending on the context; for examples,

• The jury took only two hours to reach its verdict. (Refer to the whole group)
• The jury took only two hours to reach their verdict. (Refer to the members)


[3] Agreement in gender

There could be mistakes when using the antecedent that could refer to a man or a woman. To correct the mistake, just make the antecedent plural. For examples,

• A person should make their own decision. (Incorrect)  
→ A person should make his or her own decision.  (Correct)
→ People should make their own decisions.  (Correct)


[4] Other problems: 

a) Vague pronoun antecedent

Vague pronoun antecedent occurs when a pronoun could refer to two possible antecedents. This causes confusing meaning. For examples,
• Bopha asked Lily if the teacher want to see her. (Incorrect. 'Her' is Bopha or Lily? So, it is not clear.)
→ Bopha asked Lily if the teacher want to see Bopha. (Correct)
→ Bopha asked Lily if the teacher want to see Lily. (Correct)

b) Missing its antecedent


Sometimes the antecedent of the pronoun is missing; for example, 
• He felt sad when he left his house.  (Incorrect. Who left the house? Whose house is it? ) 
→ John felt sad when he left Mike's house. (Correct)