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A pronoun substitutes for or replaces a noun; an antecedent is a noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence (or an immediately preceding sentence) to which a pronoun refers. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in three ways:
- gender: feminine, masculine, neuter
- person: first, second, third
- number: singular, plural
Errors in pronoun–antecedent agreement cause awkward sentences that often confuse readers.
Many errors result from the misuse of indefinite pronouns, which are pronouns that do not refer to a specific person, idea, or thing.
| These are the most common indefinite pronouns: | |||
| all | both | many | no one |
| another | each | more | one |
| any | either | most | several |
| anybody | everybody | neither | some |
| anyone | everyone | nobody | somebody |
| anything | few | none | someone |
With the exception of such obvious plurals as all, few, many, more, most, several, and some, indefinite pronouns are third-person singular. When such indefinite pronouns are antecedents to other pronouns, they generally require singular pronouns. Mistakes in agreement often occur when plural pronouns are used to refer back to third-person singular antecedents. For example, the following sentence includes an error in agreement:
The correction can substitute "his" only if all the company employees are male, "her" only if all employees are female. To write, "Everyone brought his bathing suit to the picnic" would be inaccurate if both men and women employees brought bathing suits. However, to write, "Everyone brought his or her bathing suit to the company picnic" would be awkward. The most appropriate correction bypasses the stylistic problem of using his/her or his or her by making both the antecedent and pronoun plural.
All employees brought their bathing suits to the company picnic.
Collective nouns used as antecedents can take either a singular or plural pronoun, depending on the meaning. When the collective noun refers to the group acting together, the pronoun should be singular.
The staff discussed changes in organizational structure at its monthly meeting.
When the individual members of the group are acting independently, the pronoun should be plural.
The staff wrote their recommendations for changing the organizational structure.