Pronoun and Antecedent Review

Pronoun-Antecedent

Agreement

Making sure you know who or what

the pronouns refer to!

Review and Definitions

We should already know…

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Pronouns are less specific nouns. We use them to replace nouns
we refer to multiple times.

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Examples of pronouns are : He, his, She, her, it, theirs, we, us,
them etc.

A new word we will learn about today is antecedent:

An antecedent is who or what a pronoun refers to!

Pronouns refer to a NOUN in a less specific way. They will show up AFTER we know who or what the noun is.

The dog chases its tail.

Pronouns

Antecedents are the NOUNS that a pronoun may refer to in a sentence. They will show up BEFORE the pronoun.

The dog chases its tail.

Antecedents

Antecedent-Pronouns

Notice we avoid saying "The dog chases the dog's tail." That would be confusing.

If an antecedent refers to a singular
person, place, thing, or idea, the pronoun must be singular too!

____

The desks have paper on it. WRONG

The desks have paper on them. RIGHT

_____

When referring to people, the pronoun
should match the antecedent’s gender.

______

The boy picked up its basketball. WRONG

The boy picked up his basketball. RIGHT

​

If you are not sure, they, them, and theirs are considered plural OR non-gendered pronouns and can be used.

Rule Number 1:

Pronouns and Antecedents must match in number and gender.

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct pronoun to complete the sentence

The dog ran to ______house and jumped on the roof.

• they

• their

• us

• we

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct pronoun to complete the sentence

The dog looked over the yard and saw a cat in _____

• its

• them

• it

• we

Multiple Choice

What is the antecedent to the underlined pronoun:

The cat ran from the dog all the way back to its house.

• cat

• from

• house

• back

Multiple Choice

What is the antecedent to the underlined pronoun:

The owner let the cat into the house, and held it in their arms.

• cat

• owner

• house

• it

Multiple Choice

What is the antecedent to the underlined pronoun:

The owner set her pet down, and fed it fish treats.

• pet

• owner

• treats

• her

Rule #2: Compound Subjects might be tricky.

If the compound subject is joined by "and" you use a plural pronoun.

---------

The mother and son went to their house.

-----------------

But if the compound subject is joined "or" or "nor" you use a pronoun that refers to the noun closest to the pronoun.

-----

Neither the actors nor the director did his job.

Since director was closer to the pronoun, we used a pronoun to refer to that director.

Multiple Choice

Choose the best pronoun to complete the sentence:

The woman and the students lined up to get on ______ bus.

• her

• our

• their

• we

Multiple Choice

Choose the best pronoun to complete the sentence:

Neither the woman nor the students remembered ______ coats!

• her

• our

• their

• we

Multiple Choice

Choose the best pronoun to complete the sentence:

Neither the students nor the woman forgot _____ job though.

• her

• our

• their

• we

Multiple Choice

Choose the best pronoun to complete the sentence:

The bus driver and the woman spoke to __________ passengers.

• her

• our

• their

• we

An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't specifically identify what it is referring to.

​These will act as an antecedent to our usual pronouns.

Indefinite Pronouns

So how does that look?

With indefinite pronouns, the following pronoun must agree with the indefinite pronoun NOT the noun.

Each of the cars has its driver's name painted on it. (even though cars is plural, EACH refers to the cars separately.)

Many of the vehicles are in their first race. (MANY refers to a plural, so we use a plural pronoun.)

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Some indefinite pronouns can refer to singular OR plural subjects, depending on how they are used.

​Some of the equipment was still packed in its containers.

Some of the teams were still looking for their equipment.

But it gets tricky...

Multiple Choice

Which pronoun would best match the antecedent?

Both the dog and the cat were in _____ beds.

• its

• their

• his

Multiple Choice

Which pronoun would best match the antecedent?

Each of the girls chose ____ outfit for the day.

• her

• their

• our

Multiple Choice

Which pronoun would best match the antecedent?

Few people are able to balance work and play in _____ lives.

• her

• their

• your

Multiple Choice

Which pronoun would best match the antecedent?

Someone in the boy's restroom dropped _____ pencil on the floor.

• his

• their

• your