Pronouns and Antecedents MUST AGREE

Agreement in Person

• • you cannot go back and forth between 1st person and 2nd person, 2nd person and 3rd person, etc.

  • Most academic writing is in 3rd person. Do not use the word "I" or "you" in academic writing. Instead, use "they, he, she".

Agreement in Gender

• • If you are writing about females/girls, you must use female/girl pronouns such as "she, her, hers".

  • If you are writing about males/boys, you must use male/boy pronouns such as "he, him, his".

  • If you are writing about both or an unspecified gender, use gender-natural pronouns such as "it, its, they, their, them".

Agreement in Number

• • If you use singular pronouns you must use singular antecedents.

Example: Bill made his way through the forest.

"Bill" is the singular antecedent

"His" is the singular pronoun

• • If you use plural pronouns you must use plural antecedents.

Example: They made their way through the forest.

"They" is the plural antecedent

"Their" is the plural pronoun

Agreement when joined by conjunction "and"

• When you have a compound (2 part) antecedent joined by "and", you will always use a plural pronoun.

Example: Maria and Denise played their trumpets together.

"Maria and Denise" is the plural antecedent

"Their" is the plural pronoun

Agreement when joined by "nor" or "or"

• When you have a compound antecedent joined by "nor" or "or" the pronoun agrees with the antecedent closes to it.

Example 1: Neither the conductor NOR the musicians have taken their places.

The antecedent closest to the pronoun is "musicians".

Musicians in plural. Therefore a plural pronoun "their" is used.

Example 2: Neither the musicians NOR the conductor has taken his place.

The antecedent closest to the pronoun is "conductor".

Conductor is singular. Therefore a singular pronoun "his" is used.