Pronoun Agreement and Reference

1. What is a pronoun? What is an antecedent?
2. Pronoun Agreement
   1. Gender and Pronouns
   2. Singular Indefinite Pronouns
   3. Collective Entities
   4. Two Antecedents Joined by 'And'
3. Problems with Pronoun Reference
   1. Ambiguous reference
   2. General reference
   3. Weak reference

---

Pronouns and Antecedents

A pronoun is a word such as I, you, he, she, it, they, who that takes the place of a noun. If we are talking about Brenda, we don't always have to use the noun, Brenda, we can use a pronoun to replace the word: she or her or they. We do this after we have used the noun, so we know exactly who or what the pronoun is referring to.

This noun is called the antecedent, and the pronoun must agree with its antecedent. We use she for Brenda to make the pronoun agree in gender with its antecedent, and we use she instead of they to make it agree in number.

Pronoun Agreement

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent.

Our son was born on May 1st. It weighed seven pounds. [Not Correct]

Our son was born on May 1st. He weighed seven pounds. [Correct]

Gender and Pronouns

Reduce gender bias in writing with thoughtful use of pronouns.

If you know the gender identity of the person you are writing about, use the appropriate pronoun when you refer to them (e.g., they, she, he, etc.).

Not acceptable (only male pronouns for unknown subject/antecedent): “an effective teacher provides clear feedback to his students” 

Acceptable (appropriate pronoun to reflect known gender identity): “Elijah is an effective teacher who provides clear feedback to his students.”

To ensure your language is inclusive and equitable, avoid use of binary pronouns (‘his or her’) in reference to unknown subjects. Instead you can refer to the subjects by name or with the epicene, or gender-neutral “they” or “their.” In some instances, it will also work to pluralize subjects/antecedents where you use the pronoun “they.”  

Not acceptable (binary pronouns for unknown subject/antecedent): “an effective teacher provides clear feedback to his or her students” 

Acceptable (epicene/singular they): “an effective teacher provides clear feedback to their students.”

Acceptable plural form: "effective teachers provide clear feedback to their students."

Singular Indefinite Pronouns

Use a singular pronoun after such words as each, either, neither, one, no one, everyone, someone, anyone, nobody, everybody, somebody, anybody. See more on singular indefinite pronouns.

Not one of the students received an A on their paper. [Incorrect sentence]

The above is something we might say, but it is wrong in formal, grammatically correct writing because it doesn't make logical sense: 'one' is singular and 'their' is plural.

Not one of the students received an A on his or her paper. [Correct but awkward]

In the above example, what is correct is also awkward. Sometimes it may be best to revise the sentence so that the antecedent is in the plural so the pronoun can also be plural:

All of the students received less than A on their papers. [Correct sentence]

Collective Entities

Use a singular pronoun to refer to a collective or entity noun such as crowd or committee when the group or entity is considered as a whole.

The crowd, venting its anger, smashed the police car. [Correct sentence]

Use a plural pronoun to refer to a collective or entity noun when the members are thought of singly.

The committee are agreed that they must present their report to Parliament this month. [Correct sentence]

Two Antecedents Joined by ‘And’

Use a plural pronoun to agree with two antecedents joined by and.

The owner and the manager of the business quickly made their fortunes. [Correct sentence]

Problems with Pronoun Reference

Every pronoun should refer to a specific antecedent that has been mentioned and is close by. If the antecedent is missing or too far away from the pronoun, it can be difficult for the reader to understand what noun the pronoun refers to.

Ambiguous reference

If a pronoun could refer to more than one noun, the noun it is referring to is unclear or ambiguous.

John told Gordon that Mr. Walsh did not remember him. [Incorrect sentence]

In the above example, we do not know if the him refers to John or Gordon.

Such ambiguity can be avoided by using direct speech or by avoiding a pronoun and using a noun instead.

The following examples are all correct:

John said to Gordon, "Mr. Walsh does not remember me."

John said to Gordon, "Mr. Walsh does not remember you."

John told Gordon that Mr. Walsh did not remember Gordon.

General reference

Pronouns replace nouns, that is they replace one noun: a person, place, thing, concept. For example, them replaces students. General reference means the pronoun is being used by the writer to refer to a general idea in a preceding phrase or sentence rather than to a specific, identifiable noun.

The school can no longer raise money by selling lottery tickets because it is now forbidden by school board regulations. [Incorrect sentence]

In the above example, the pronoun ‘it’ does not have an antecedent. ‘It’ is referring to the phrase, selling lottery tickets. This is more than a pronoun can do.

The school can no longer raise money by selling lottery tickets because this sale is now forbidden by school board regulations. [Correct sentence]

The school can no longer raise money through the sale of lottery tickets because it is now forbidden by school board regulations. [Correct sentence]

Weak reference

A weak reference occurs when there is no antecedent at all for the pronoun to refer to.

Example 1:

As she watched the sailboat, it suddenly got up, filling the sails. [Incorrect sentence]

In the above example, the pronoun ‘it’ would seem to refer to the adjacent noun sailboat. But the sentence doesn't make sense. The pronoun does not have an antecedent.

As she watched the sailboat, the wind suddenly got up, filling the sails. [Correct sentence]

Example 2:

Before publishing her recipe book, Liz personally tested them all. [Incorrect sentence]

The pronoun ‘them’ does not have an antecedent in this sentence, although clearly the writer meant them to refer back to ‘recipe’. Although ‘recipe’ is a noun, in this sentence it is being used as an adjective, a word that modifies or describes a noun. As such, it cannot be an antecedent to a pronoun (a word that replaces a noun not a modifier).

Before publishing her recipe book, Liz personally tested all the recipes. [Correct sentence]

Before publishing her recipes, Liz personally tested them all. [Correct sentence]