AGREEMENT OF PRONOUN WITH ANTECEDENT

INTRODUCTION

A pronoun is a word used to refer to a noun or another pronoun which precedes it in a sentence. The word to which a pronoun refers is called its antecedent. In the sentence Mary lost her handbag, the pronoun her refers to Mary. The word Mary precedes the pronoun her or goes before it. It is therefore the antecedent of the pronoun ‘her’. Examine the following sentences and note the antecedents of the pronouns.

1. Unwana says that she respects herself.

(Unwana = antecedent of she and herself)

2. Everyday brings its problems (day = antecedent of its)

3. The lecturer himself did not know the answer (lecturer = antecedent of himself)

Since a pronoun refers to or replaces a noun, it must agree with the noun in number, gender and person. We have already dealt with the issue of number and person in Unit 3 in connection with subject-verb agreement. We shall therefore take up the issue of gender and show its relationship with the agreement of pronouns and their antecedents while assuming a background knowledge of number and person.

3.1 Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement

3.1.1 Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to both sexes; male and female. In the following example, everyone includes male and female:

1. Everyone is invited to the party.

The problem arises where the indefinite pronoun is the antecedent of another pronoun. In such a situation the convention is to use the masculine gender for the pronoun which is used in place of the indefinite pronoun. In the following example, everybody is the antecedent of the pronoun, his instead of his or her.

2. Everybody received his declaration of assets form.

It must however be noted that the more cumbersome form ‘his or her’ is sometimes preferred by women who assert their individuality as a sex. This is also the reason behind modern usages like chairperson instead of chairman.

In example 5 above, the pronoun his refers to everyone which includes people of both male and female genders. If it is clear from the sentence that the indefinite pronoun refers to only male or female, the pronoun that refers to that sex is used. However, some grammarians think that ‘everyone’ can be used in a generic sense without prejudice to sex.

3. Everyone who attended the meeting of the Catholic Women Organisation wore her uniform.

4. Everyone in the Boys Scout Movement had his height measured. When it is not clear whether the antecedent indefinite pronoun is masculine or feminine the pronoun he is used.

5. Somebody left his pen on my table.

The practice of using the pronoun their instead of his or her is also gaining grounds as in:

6. ‘God send everyone their hearts desire’. (Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing).

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

Examine the following.

1. All were waiting for their children (plural)

2. There is no salad left; all of it has been eaten (singular)

3. Some gave their contributions yesterday (plural)

4. Some of the beer has lost its flavour; it is now stale (singular)

5. Did any of the girls collect their membership cards from the office? (Plural)

6. Any of the lecturers is willing to help (singular)

7. None have sent their abstract (plural)

8 None of these is atypical case (singular)

3.1.2 Compound Antecedent

At times, a pronoun refers to two antecedents joined by a conjunction, if both antecedents are singular and refer to different persons or things, the pronoun used to refer to them has to be plural:

7. The president and the secretary have given their manifestoes. However if the compound antecedents refer to one person who occupies two positions or performs two functions the pronoun which takes the place of the antecedent has to be singular.

8. The secretary and typist has complained about her workload (singular).

If in the above example, the typist were another individual, the article ‘the’ would be placed before the word typist and the pronoun which refers to the compound antecedents would be plural.

8a. The secretary and the typist have complained about their workload.

When the connectives either … or and neither … nor connect singular nouns, the antecedent is regarded as singular. When they join plural nouns, the antecedent is plural. When, however, they join nouns that are different in number (one singular and the other plural) the pronoun agrees with the antecedent that is nearer to it.

9. Either Etim or his brother left his briefcase in the office (Both nouns are singular - pronoun singular)

10. Either ladies or the gentlemen came into the hall without their tickets.

(Both nouns are plural - pronoun plural)

11. Neither Mary nor her cousins brought their levies (Pronoun is plural - agrees with cousins).

3.1.3 Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are singular when they express singular ideas or refer to groups acting as units, they are plural when they express plural ideas

or when they refer to members in a group who are acting independently.

Examine the following:

12. The band played its first number (as a unit).

13. The band were tuning up their instruments when we arrived (as individuals).

3.1.4 Agreement in Person

As we earlier stated (Section 1.0) a pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person. If the antecedent of the pronoun is in the first person, the pronoun which refers to it must also be in the first person. If the antecedent is in the second or third person, the pronoun that refers to it must also be in the appropriate person. One of the most common errors of agreement in English is to start a sentence in the third person and put the pronoun that refers to it in the second person. Examine the following:

14. If anyone wants some water you can get it from the tap (wrong- person).

14a. If anyone wants some water, he can get it from the tap.

3.1.5 Vague Antecedents

Sometimes a pronoun has two possible antecedents in the same sentence to which it refers. This can create misinterpretations of the sentence.

Note the two possible interpretations of the following sentence:

15. Ekaette told her friend that she had been appointed a commissioner.

In the above sentence it is possible for the antecedent to be Ekaette or her friend. This is a case of ambiguity. To disambiguate the sentence, it can be re-written in either of the following ways.

15a. Ekaette told her friend: ‘I have been appointed a commissioner’ .

15b. Ekaette told her friend: ‘you have been appointed a commissioner’ .

15c. Ekaette told her friend that she (Ekaette) had been appointed

commissioner.

15d. Ekaette told her friend that she (her friend) had been appointed a commissioner.

15e. Ekaette announced her friend’s appointment as a commissioner.

There are many errors of agreement which can be traced to vague antecedents. It is important in sentence construction to make a pronoun refer directly to the noun which it represents. Examine the following sentence.

16. Your application and your electronic mail arrived in time but we cannot treat it at the moment.

antecedent to the nouns: application and electronic mail would be. them as this is a case of a compound antecedent joined by and.

3.2 Gender

In grammar, gender refers to the classification of nouns and pronouns according to sex. Four genders are often identified: masculine, feminine, common and neuter. Masculine gender denotes the male sex while feminine gender denotes the female sex. Neuter gender indicates absence of sex and common gender denotes either male or female sex. Examples of nouns and pronouns in the four genders are given below:

Masculine gender

man

boy

him

Neuter gender

bag

television

bottle

Feminine gender

woman

girl

she

her

Some nouns and a few pronouns have special forms which show

gender. These include

Masculine and Feminine

host

hostess

king

queen

uncle

aunt

nephew

niece

waiter

waitress

hero

heroine

alumnus

alumna

monk

nun

actor

actress

she

him

her

bridegroom

bride

peacock

peahen

ram

ewe

son

daughter

The above list is by no means exhaustive but there are some forms used to show gender which are hardly ever used. These include author - authoress, poet - poetess.

3.3 Number

Indefinite pronouns also present a problem of number; some may be either singular or plural while some are always plural. The following list shows the pronouns that are always singular and those that are plural.

Singular

anybody

everybody

anyone

everyone

each

either

no one

nobody

neither

one

someone

somebody

Plural

many

both

few

several

others

There should therefore be proper agreement between the above pronouns when they are antecedents and the pronouns that refer to them. Study the following examples:

17. Neither of the men had his entitlements (Not their).

18. If anyone wants a drink he can buy it at the bar (Not they).

19. One should concentrate on what one can dowell (not they).

20. Only a few would give up their comfort for others (plural).

21. Several found their cars opened (plural).

22. Others could not locate their cars (plural).

The pronouns all, any, some and none may be singular or plural depending on the meaning of the sentence. When these pronouns refer to quantity or mass, they are singular but when they refer to number, they are generally regarded as plural.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

Select the correct answer from the alternatives given in each sentence..

1. Either you or Peter invited

(a) are (b) was (c) have been (d) were

2. The scissors used for cutting

(a) is (b) are (c) being (d) been.

3. The committee has submitted report

(a) her (b) his (c) its (d) their

4. The manager together with his visitor left for Abuja. (a) have (b) has (c) were (d) was

5. Neither Alice nor you invited

(a) is (b) are (c) has been (d) was

6. A group of four women and a child the first to be released. (a) were (b) was (c) being (d) been.

7. I want everybody to eat food.

(a) their (b) his (c) her (d) his/her.

8. I hate examinations because it makes nervous. (a) us (b) me (c) you (d) them

9. For one to succeed in any endeavour must work hard. (a) he (b) she (c) they (d) one

10. We are shocked at being so irresponsible. (a) them (b) their (c) they (d) us.

4.0 CONCLUSION

The problem of agreement between pronouns and their antecedents is a common problem among second language speakers of English. Agreement between these two elements must be in number, gender, and person.

5.0 SUMMARY

The following important points have been raised in this unit:

i. A pronoun is a word used to refer to a noun or another pronoun

which precedes it in a sentence. The word to which a pronoun refers is called its antecedent.

ii. Since a pronoun refers to or replaces a noun, it must agree with

the noun in number, gender and person

iii. At times a pronoun refers to two antecedents joined by a

conjunction, if both antecedents are singular and refer to different persons or things, the pronoun used to refer to them has to be plural.

iv. If the antecedent is in the second or third person, the pronoun that

refers to it must also be in the appropriate person.

v. Sometimes a pronoun has two possible antecedents in the same

sentence to which it refers. This can create misinterpretations of the sentence.

ANSWERS TO SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

Examine the following.

1. All were waiting for their children (plural, refers to number)

2. There is no salad left; all of it has been eaten (singular, refers to quantity).

3. Some gave their contributions yesterday (plural, refers to number)

4. Some of the beer has lost its flavour; it is now stale (singular, refers to quantity)

5. Did any of the girls collect their membership cards (plural, refers to number)

6. Any of the lecturers is willing to help (singular, refers to number but to one lecturer)

7. None have sent their abstract (plural refers to number)

8. None of these is atypical case (singular, refers to quantity).

ANSWERS TO SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

Select the correct answer from the alternatives given in each sentence.

The correct answers have been highlighted.