Use the pronoun that agrees with the antecedent

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Key Notes:

🌈✨ Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement ✨🌈

🔑 What is an Antecedent?

👉 The antecedent is the noun that a pronoun replaces.
Example: Ravi lost his book.

  • “Ravi” = antecedent
  • “his” = pronoun

📌 Rule 1: Singular antecedent → Singular pronoun

  • 🧒 The boy is playing. He is happy.
  • 👩 Maya loves reading. She goes to the library often.

📌 Rule 2: Plural antecedent → Plural pronoun

  • 👭 The girls are studying. They are smart.
  • 🐶 Dogs are friendly. They love to play.

📌 Rule 3: Antecedent must match in gender

  • 👦 If the noun is male → use he/him/his.
  • 👧 If the noun is female → use she/her/hers.
  • 🐾 If gender is unknown or general → use they/them/their.

📌 Rule 4: Compound antecedents (joined by AND → plural)

  • 👫 Ravi and Maya are friends. They go to school together.

📌 Rule 5: Compound antecedents (joined by OR/NOR → match the closest noun)

  • 🍎 Neither the teacher nor the students brought their books.
  • 👨 Either the boy or the man forgot his wallet.
🚦 Common Mistakes to Avoid 🚦
  • ❌ Everyone should bring their pen.
  • ✅ Everyone should bring his or her pen. (Singular → singular pronoun)
  • ❌ The team won their match.
  • ✅ The team won its match. (Team = singular group word)
🌟 Quick Tips 🌟
  • Find the antecedent first 🕵️.
  • Check if it’s singular or plural 🔍.
  • Match the pronoun in number and gender ✅.
  • Be careful with everyone, someone, nobody → always singular ☝️.

✨🎉 Remember: Pronouns must always “agree” with their antecedents in number (singular/plural) and gender (male/female/neutral). 🎉✨

Learn with an example

➡️ Complete the sentence with the pronoun that agrees with the word or words in bold.

➡️ It seems like it’s been an hour since I ordered those chips, and I’m starving! If the waiter doesn’t bring ______ soon, I might faint.

  • Look at the antecedent, those chips. It is plural, so use the plural pronoun them.
  • It seems like it’s been an hour since I ordered those chips, and I’m starving! If the waiter doesn’t bring them soon, I might faint.

➡️Complete the sentence with the pronoun that agrees with the word or words in bold.

➡️ My teammates and I always stretch and run laps before _____ play football.

  • Look at the antecedent, my teammates and I. It is plural, so use the plural pronoun we.
  • My teammates and I always stretch and run laps before we play football.

➡️Complete the sentence with the pronoun that agrees with the word or words in bold.

➡️ There are thousands of snail species. Some of  are used throughout the world as a source of food.

  • Look at the antecedent, snail species. It is plural, so use the plural pronoun them.
  • There are thousands of snail species. Some of them are used throughout the world as a source of food.

Let’s practice!🖊️