Pronouns Lesson 12

Pronoun-antecedent agreement


A pronoun is a word used to refer to a noun mentioned earlier in the text. This noun is called the antecedent of the pronoun.
  • Susmita is a pretty girl. She also sings well. (Pronoun – she; antecedent – Susmita)
Note that the pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number and person. That means if the antecedent is a singular noun, then the pronoun used to refer to it, too, should be singular in number.

Problem points

The indefinite pronouns anybody, everyone, anyone, someone, somebody, no one, and nobody are always singular.
The pronouns either and neither are also singular.
The need for pronoun-antecedent agreement doesn’t create any problems when the gender is clearly specified.
  • John works hard. He will pass.
But when the sex of the person is not mentioned, finding a pronoun that agrees with its antecedent can be difficult.
The following sentence, for example, shows gender bias.
  • A student must hand in his assignment before the end of this month.
Here the noun student can refer to both boys and girls and hence there is no justification for using pronoun his.
One solution is to pluralize.
  • Students must hand in their assignments before the end of this month.
Or you can say:
  • A student must hand in his or her assignment before the end of the month.
However, if you use the expression ‘his or her’ too many times, the effect can be ridiculous.
Instead, many writers now prefer using the pronoun they/their.
  • Somebody has left their umbrella behind.
More natural than ‘Somebody has left his or her umbrella behind.’

Nhận xét

Đăng nhận xét

Bài đăng phổ biến từ blog này

What are adverbs?

Adverbs are words like  now, then, today, tomorrow  and  carefully . An adverb modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Read the following sentences: Alice smiled  sweetly. Those mangoes were  very  sweet. He spoke  quite  loudly. In sentence 1, the adverb  quickly  shows how (or in what manner) Alice smiled. It modifies the verb  smiled. In sentence 2, the adverb  very  says something about the sweetness of the mangoes. It modifies the adjective  sweet . In sentence 3,  quite  says something about the manner in which he spoke. It modifies the adverb  loudly. Note that  adverbs  standing at the beginning of sentences sometimes modify the whole sentence, rather than a particular word. Unfortunately  no one was present there. (= It was unfortunate that no one was present there.) Probably  I am mistaken. (= It is probable that I am mistaken.) Kinds ...
Đọc thêm

Nouns Lesson 5

Noun: gender Living beings are of either the male or the female sex. Now compare the following pairs of words. Boy, girl Man, woman Husband, wife Lion, lioness Here the first word of each pair is the name of a male animal. The second word of each pair is the name of a female animal. A noun that denotes a male animal is said to be of the  masculine gender . A noun that denotes a female animal is said to be of the  feminine gender. A noun that denotes either a male or a female is said to be of the  common gender.  Examples are:  parent, child, friend, servant, thief, enemy, cousin, student, baby, teacher, writer etc. A noun that denotes a thing that is neither male nor female is said to be of the  neuter gender . Examples are:  book, pen, room, house, tree etc. It is thus seen that in modern English, the gender of a noun is entirely a matter of sex or the absence of it. It has nothing to do with the form of a noun, which determines it...
Đọc thêm

Verbs Lesson 54

Sequence of Tenses Exercise Complete the following sentences using an appropriate tense form. 1. Suddenly we noticed that the clock ……………… stopped has stopped had stopped 2. I never thought that I ………………… see him again. will would Either could be used here 3. The woman led me to her hut and …………….. me to remain there for the night. tells had told told 4. We …………….. higher that we might get a better view of the procession. have climbed climbed ...
Đọc thêm