Pronouns

PRONOUNS AND ANTECEDENTS

The noun which a pronoun replaces is called its antecedent.

Examples:  

 (a) Mary wondered whether she should go to the party.

 "Mary" is the antecedent of the pronoun "she."

(b) The test was difficult for Dave, who had not studied.

  "Dave" is the antecedent of the pronoun "who".

Rule for Pronouns and Antecedents

The general rule is that a pronoun must agree with its antecedent. Therefore, if the antecedent is plural, use a plural pronoun; if the antecedent is feminine, use a feminine pronoun, and so on.

Examples:

1.       Mary and Juliet asked me to buy something for them.   (plural pronoun and antecedent)

2.       Sandra could not find her school bag.                    (feminine pronoun and antecedent)

3.       Mr. John drove his car roughly yesterday.            (masculine pronoun and antecedent)

Types of Antecedent

Basically, there are two types of pronoun antecedents: Ambiguous and Vague Antecedents    

1.                  Ambiguous Antecedents

Ambiguous antecedent error occurs when the pronoun in a sentence could refer to two or more of the nouns present in the sentence. That is, it is not clear which noun the pronoun refers or stands for.

Example 1:   

Tim told his brother he was working too hard.

In this sentence, the pronoun "he" could refer to either "Tim" or "his brother".

Example 2:

When I saw Grace and Abigail, I could not help appreciating her beauty.

In this sentence, which of Grace and Abigail does the pronoun “her” refers.

SOLUTION:

General Rule - Pronouns should always replace a noun. The antecedent of a pronoun needs to be clear.

Example:   

Although the pizza was cold, it tasted good.

Here, the pronoun "it" clearly refers to the noun "pizza".              

2.                   Vague Antecedents

Vague antecedent error occurs when the pronoun does not refer to a specific noun in the sentence.  That is, the noun being referred to in the sentence is not in the sentence.

Example:   

The mother of the young mountain climber wanted him to give it up.

What does the pronoun "it" stands for in this sentence?

Although one might guess that "it" refers to "mountain climbing", there is no such noun in the sentence.          

CLEAR: The mother of the young mountain climber wanted him to give mountain climbing up.

Example:

John failed his final exams. His parents blame his teachers for these marks.  (What marks? "Poor marks” in the exams, may be implied, but not stated.)

CLEAR:  John failed his final exams. His parents blame his teachers for his poor marks in the exams.