Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

When speaking about agreement, consider the following points:

1. NUMBER is a shared grammatical category between the indefinite articles and nouns, and
between the demonstratives and nouns. Hence, there has to be agreement.
2. Pronouns exhibit both NUMBER and GENDER; thus both grammatical categories have to agree.
3. When the simple present tense is used, agreement between subject and verb is very important.

Thus one can say: He is an honest man. These lessons are new. Nobody is allowed to stay here.
But one cannot say: He is an honest men; This lessons are new; and Nobody are allowed to stay here.
These are all ungrammatical sentences.

AGREEMENT IN NUMBER
If the antecedent of a pronoun is singular, a singular pronoun is required. If the antecedent is
plural, a plural noun is required.

The indefinite pronouns that are singular in meaning cause the greatest difficulty.
e.g.
Each of the boys brought his sleeping bag.
Everyone should make up his own mind.
Someone had left his briefcase on the bus.
Two or more singular antecedent joined by or or nor are referred to by a singular pronoun.
e.g.
Either Bob or Hank will let us use his car.
Neither the cat nor the dog had eaten his meal.
Collective nouns may be referred to by either a singular or plural pronoun, depending upn the
emphasis desired.
e.g.
The track team has its new uniforms.
The track team have been beaten in their last three outings.
The singular/plural indefinite pronouns may be referred to by either a singular or plural pronoun,
depending upon the emphasis desired.
e.g.
All the furniture was in its best condition.
All the students were taking their last examination.
Some of the cider has lost its tang.
None of the refugee children have heard from their parents.

AGREEMENT IN GENDER
Masculine gender is indicated by he, his, him. Feminine gender is indicated by she, her, hers.
Neuter gender is indicated by it and its. These pronouns must be the same in gender as the word to which
they refer.
e.g.
The lion had fought for its life. (neuter)
The actor rehearsed his lines. (masculine)
The queen was riding in her coach. (feminine)

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 When a singular pronoun must refer to both feminine and masculine antecedents, the masculine
forms he, his, and him are used. It is not necessary to use the awkward phrase his or her.
e.g.
Awkward: Every student should have his or her ticket ready.
Better: Every student should have his ticket ready.
Awkward: Each voter must sign his or her name in the registration book.
Better: each voter must sign his name in the registration book.

AGREEMENT IN PERSON
A personal pronoun must be in the same person as its antecedent. The words one, everyone, and
everybody are in the third person. They are referred to by he, his, him, she, her, hers.

e.g.
Substandard: One should always wear your seat belts.
Standard: One should always wear his seat belts.
Substandard: I find that the babys crying grates on your nerves.
Standard: I find that the babys crying grates on my nerves.

PRONOUN USAGE

The nominative form of the pronoun is used as subject of a verb.

The problem of which pronoun form to use as subject arises chiefly when the subject is
compound. The compound subject may be made up of pronouns or of both nouns and pronouns.
To decide which pronoun form to use in a compound subject, try each part of the subject by itself
with the verb.
e.g.
Hal and (I, me) went to the movies.
(Hal went; I went, not me went.)
The McCarthys and (they, them) are in the club.
(The McCarthys are; they are, not them are.)
We and (they, them) tried out for the Olympics.
(We tried; they tried, not them tried.)
He and (I, me) read Huckleberry Finn.
(He read; I read, not me read.)

The plural forms we and they sound awkward in many compounds. They can be avoided by
recasting the sentence.
e.g.
Awkward: The girls and we are going.
Better: We and the girls are going.
Awkward: We and they planned to swim at dawn.
Better: We all planned to swim at dawn.

The objective pronoun form is used as direct or indirect object.

The problem of which pronoun to use as object of the verb arises chiefly when the object is
compound. The compound object may consist of pronouns or of both nouns and pronouns.
To decide which pronoun form to use in a compound object, try each part of the object by itself
with the verb.

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 e.g.
Direct object:
The principal wanted to see George and (I, me).
(see George; see me, not see I)
Jenny invited both (they, them) and (we, us) to the party.
(invited them, not invited they; invited us, not invited we.)
Did you ask (he, him) and (I, me) to dinner?
(ask him, not ask he; ask me, not ask I)
Indirect object:
The counsellor gave Janet and (I, me) good advice.)
(gave Janet; gave me, not gave I)

The objective pronoun form is used as object of a preposition.

The problem of which pronoun form to use as object of a preposition arises only when the object
is compound. The compound object may consist of pronouns or of both nouns and pronouns.
To decide which pronoun to use in a compound object of a preposition, try each part of the object
by itself with the preposition.
e.g.
Will your aunt be going with you and (I, me)?
(with you; with me, not with I)
We had Christmas cards from (they, them) and the Clarks.
(from them, not from they)
The doctor gave virus shots to both the coaches and (we, us)
(to us, not to we)
The preposition between causes especially noticeable errors in pronoun usage. Use only the
objective pronoun forms after between.
e.g.
between you and him, not between you and he
between him and me, not between he and I.

In a construction such as we girls or us boys, the use of the noun determines the case form of
the pronoun.
To decide which pronoun form to use in a construction such as we boys, try the pronoun by itself
with the verb or preposition.
e.g.
The test was not too difficult for (we, us) boys.
(for us, not for we)
The police mand told (we, us) boys not to play ball in the street.
(told us, not told we)
(We, Us) friends must not part.
(We must not part, not us must not part)
(We, Us) girls can bring the lunch.
(girls is the subject of can bring; the nominative pronoun therefore is required)
The Kiwanis Club gave the sports equipment to (we, us) boys.
(boys is object of the preposition to; the objective pronoun is therefore required)