Pronoun Agreement Washington DC

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine).

In this sentence, Harold is the antecedent of his, he'd, and his.

• Harold, after saying goodbye to his family, discovered he'd lost his wallet.

In the following sentence, Garcias is the antecedent of they, even though it follows the pronoun.

• Until they buy the house, the Garcias are staying in a hotel.

Look at the next example. Here, Peterson and Mancini is a compound antecedent, which requires the plural pronoun their.

• Peterson and Mancini took their cue from the senator.

Agreement problems with indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns cause many agreement problems. Some pronouns (several, few, both, and many) are clearly plural and take both plural verbs and plural pronouns.

• Several are expected to give up their rooms.

• Both tell their parents the truth.

Some pronouns may “feel” plural, but are singular and take singular verbs and pronouns. In this group are each, either, neither, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody.

• Each is responsible for his or her ( not their) own ticket.

• Everyone wants to get his or her ( not their) name in the paper.

When the use of a singular form would lead to a statement that doesn't make sense, you should use a plural form. For example, in the sentence Everyone left the lecture because he thought it was boring, they would be a better choice than he for the pronoun. However, the general rule is to use singular forms of verbs and pronouns with these indefinite pronouns.

Some indefinite pronouns (none, any, some, all, most) fall into an “either/or” category; and they may take singular or plural verbs and pronouns, depending on meaning. Sometimes the distinction is subtle.

• None of the men was hurt. ( not one = singular)

• None of the men were hurt. ( no men = plural)

• Some is better than none. ( some = a quantity = singular)

• Some are delicious. ( some = a number of things = plural)

• All is well. ( all = the sum of all things singular)

• All are well. ( all = a number of people plural)

If a plural meaning is not clear from the context, use singular verbs and pronouns.

Pronouns with collective nouns

Collective nouns can also require either singular or plural verbs and singular or plural pronouns, depending on meaning.

• The team plays according to its schedule. (emphasize unit = singular)

• The team couldn't agree on their goals. (emphasize individuals = plural)

However, if you are uncertain, choose a singular verb and a singular pronoun, or rewrite the sentence to make it clearly plural.

• The team members couldn't agree on their goals.

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