3 Pronouns

Pronouns are very important to your writing and speaking. Without them, your language would be very boring. Pronouns also help a writer avoid repetition of words. Knowing just how pronouns work is an important aspect of clear and concise writing. Chapter 7 covers this in greater detail.

Pronoun Agreement

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of (or refers back to) a noun or another pronoun. The word or words a pronoun refers to is called the antecedent of the pronoun.

1. 1. 1. Lani complained that she was exhausted.
         • She refers to Lani.
         • Lani is the antecedent of she.
      2. Hieu left the party early, so I did not see him until Monday at work.
         • Him refers to Hieu.
         • Hieu is the antecedent of him.
      3. Ansam and Sherry have been best friends ever since they were freshman in high school.
         • They refers to Ansam and Sherry.
         • Ansam and Sherry is the antecedent of they.

There are several types of pronoun agreement:

Agreement in number:  If the pronoun takes the place of or refers to a singular noun, the pronoun must also be singular. Likewise, if the pronoun refers to a plural noun, the pronoun must be plural.

Agreement in person:

Indefinite Pronouns and Agreement

Indefinite pronouns do not refer to a specific person or thing and are usually singular. Note that a pronoun that refers to an indefinite singular pronoun should also be singular. The following are some common indefinite pronouns:

Indefinite pronoun agreement has changed. So I left that out (for now). PF

Collective Nouns

Collective noun agreement

Incorrect: Lara’s company will have their annual picnic next week. Company is singular, but their is plural.

Correct: Lara’s company will have its annual picnic next week. Both company and its are singular.

Subject and Object Pronouns

Subject pronouns function as subjects in a sentence. Object pronouns function as the object of a verb or of a preposition.

The following sentences show pronouns as subjects:

She loves the Blue Ridge Mountains in the fall.
Every summer, they picked up litter from national parks.

The following sentences show pronouns as objects:

Marie leaned over and kissed him.
Barbara moved it to the corner.

Tip
Note that a pronoun can also be the object of a preposition:

Near them, the children played.
My mother stood between us.

The pronouns us and them are objects of the prepositions near and between. They answer the questions near whom? And between whom?

Note that object pronouns are never used in the subject position. One way to remember this rule is to remove the other subject in a compound subject, leave only the pronoun, and see whether the sentence makes sense. For example, me visited the Grand Canyon last summer sounds immediately incorrect.

Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a type of pronoun that helps connect details to the subject of the sentence and may often combine two shorter sentences. The relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, or that. Chapter 2 discusses the use of relative pronouns in clauses.

Tip

Remember the following uses of relative pronouns:

Who, whom, and whose refer only to people.
Which refers to things.
That refers to people or things.