Transcript Pronoun Agreement - Mt. San Antonio College

Pronoun Agreement
Everyone
should know
their
pronouns?
Or his or her
pronouns?
A pronoun agreement item
on an objective test might
look like this ...
Sample Item
Spendthrifts are quickly parted from their
their
A
money. So a person
personwho
whowants
wantsto
tostart
startsaving
saving
B
should not spend all of their
theirtime
his
time
timeatat
atthe
the
themall.
mall.
mall.
CC
A.
B.
C.
D.
The
second
Is the
first their,
his or her
does
not agree
a person
, orwith
the
someone
a person
an error
second, their
a
that choice
C fixes.
problem?
his
his
No change is necessary.
Agreement in a Nutshell
The kangaroo carries
its joey in a pouch.
kangaroo = singular antecedent
its = singular pronoun
The kangaroos carry
their joeys in pouches.
kangaroos = plural antecedent
their = plural pronoun
Know your pronouns.
Singular
Plural
 he, she, it
 him, her, it
 his, her, hers,
its
 himself,
herself, itself




Singular!
they
them
their, theirs
themselves
Plural!
Two [or mor e] singular
nouns joined by and make a
plur al antecedent.
The new puppy and kitten have
destroyed their owner’s sofa.
W hen each or ever y pr ecedes
two [or mor e] singular things
joined by and , you have a
singular antecedent.
Each new
Every
newpuppy
puppyand
andkitten
kitten
destroy
destroy
s its
s its
owner’s sofa.
I n t h i s s i t u at i o n , n o m at t e r
how m any s i n g u l a r n o u n s yo u
j o i n w i t h and , t h e a n t e c e d e n t
i s sti l l s i n g u l a r.
Each new puppy, kitten, rabbit, tarantula,
python, parrot, turtle, and ferret destroys its
owner’s sofa.
Use caution with these three
c o n j u n c t i o n s : ei ther … or ,
nei ther … nor , a n d not onl y …
but al s o .
Not only the
Louise
but also
the Smiths
Smiths
but also
Louise fixed
fixed
her
their
famousfamous
squid eyeball
eyeball
squid eyeball
stew for
for
stew
the
their famous
squid
stew
the
picnic.
for
the picnic.
If you
You’ll
wanthave
to use
two
their,
you
antecedents
will need to—flip
the
the
Smiths
Smithsand
andLouise
Louise—but
so
that
only the
the Smiths
closer one
are
closercounts
to the pronoun.
!
T hese indefinite pr onouns
ar e always singular [even
w hen they seem plur al].





Each, either, neither
Anyone, anybody, anything
Everyone, everybody, everything
No one, nobody, nothing
Someone, somebody, something
Bewar e of inter r upting
phr ases.
Neither
of of
mymy
twotwo
brothers
show
much
Neither
brothers
show
s much
sense when they
date women.
he dates
women.
my two
ThisOfsentence
might
brothers
sound =
prepositional
right, but it isphrase;
neither
= singular
completely
wrong
!
antecedent.
Company , or ganization ,
depar tment , and school
names ar e singular .
One urban legend is that Tito’s Taco Palace
makes their
its burritos
burritoswith
withkangaroo
kangaroomeat.
meat.
We did
not!
Did you
know
that?