Identifying Verbs and Adverbs s1

MAKING PRONOUN NUMBERS AGREE WITH ANTECEDENTS

In this module, you will learn to make pronouns agree in number with their  Simple antecedents  Collective antecedents  Correlative antecedents  Indefinite antecedents.

Introduction A pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent. The number of a noun or a pronoun refers to whether the noun or pronoun is singular or plural. Singular means that the noun or pronoun refers to ONE entity. Plural means MORE THAN ONE entity.

If you'll remember, you've been made familiar with the concepts of the four antecedents when you did subject/verb agreement. During subject/verb agreement, we made the verb agree in number with simple and compound nouns, alternatives, and indefinite pronouns. If you are not familiar with the four concepts, you may wish to review a few modules.

If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must be singular; if the antecedent is plural, the pronoun must be plural.

Practice We'll practice with the four types of antecedents. Instead of thinking subject/verb as we've done earlier, think pronoun/antecedent. In addition to the practice, we'll establish a procedure we can follow until we become adept at pronoun number agreement.

Our procedure will hinge on three aspects that are vital to determining the correct pronoun number to use. The three aspects are

1. Identifying the antecedent of the pronoun in question 2. Determining the number of the antecedent 3. Selecting the appropriate pronoun.

Simple Practice We'll start with simple antecedents and pronouns. Sentence: "The City Library has increased (its, their) collection through donations."

1. Locate the antecedent of the pair (its, their).

2. We recognize "Library" as the antecedent of (its, their). The antecedent is singular.

3. We select the singular possessive pronoun "its" to agree in number with the singular antecedent "Library." Sentence: "Mr. and Mrs. Smith took (her, his, their) car in to be serviced."

1. Locate the antecedent of the triad (her, his, their).

2. We recognize "Mrs. Smith" as an antecedent. We also recognize "Mr." as part of the compound antecedent Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Thus, the antecedent of the pronouns (her, his, their) is plural.

3. We select the plural possessive pronoun "their" to agree in number with the plural antecedents Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Collective Practice We must remember that collective nouns can be either singular or plural. Sentence: "The young dance troupe ate (its, their) dinners in silence."

2. We recognize "troupe," a collective noun, as the antecedent. We know that a collective noun can be singular or plural. We analyze the action, and we learn that the collective action of eating is being done individually, each member doing her own thing. Thus, the collective antecedent "troupe" is plural.

3. We select the plural possessive pronoun "their" to agree in number with the plural noun "troupe."

Sentence: "The board of directors quickly made (its, their) decision regarding the strike."

2. We recognize the collective noun "board" as the antecedent of (its, their). We know that a collective noun can be singular or plural. We analyze the action, and we learn that the collective action, "made," is being done as one entity. There are no separate actions being taken by the individuals making up the "board." Thus, the collective noun "board" is singular.

3. We select the singular possessive pronoun "its" to agree in number with the singular collective noun "board."

The key to selecting the correct number of pronoun for collective nouns is the analysis of the action. If the collective noun is acting as one entity, the noun is singular. If the action is being done individually, the noun is plural. Correlative Practice We'll condense the procedure now. If you find that you are having a problem, use the longer procedures in the previous practices. Can you recite all the correlative conjunctions? If not, a review of "Dealing with Correlative Conjunctions and Parenthetical Subjects" may be helpful.

Sentence: "Neither the students nor the teacher thought to bring (her, their) boots."

1. Locate the antecedent of the pair (her, their).

2. We recognize the correlative alternatives "students" and "teacher." We select the nearer of the two alternatives to be our governing noun. The nearer is the singular "teacher," so we select the singular pronoun "her."

Sentence: "Was it the students or the teacher's aide who said (she, they) felt tired"?

1. Locate the antecedent of the pair (she, they).

2. We recognize "who" as the antecedent of the pair (she, they). But "who" does not inflect to show number, so we don't know the number of "who." We proceed to find the antecedent of "who." We recognize the correlative alternatives joined by "or." We select the nearer of the two alternatives to be our governing noun. The nearer is the singular "aide," making the pronoun "who" singular.

3. We select the singular pronoun "she."

With correlative antecedents, search for the correlative alternates or alternatives. Select the alternative nearer the verb and let the number of this alternative govern the pronoun.

Indefinite Practice Here, we must remember that some indefinite pronouns are always singular; some are always plural, and some vary between singular and plural. You may want to refresh your memory by reviewing "Matching Subjects to Verbs Despite Prepositional Phrases and Indefinite Pronouns."

Sentence: "Each of the competitors ran (his, their) hardest as the finish line came into view."

1. Locate the antecedent of the pair (his, their).

2. We recognize the indefinite pronoun "each" as the antecedent of the pair (his, their). We know that "each" is always singular. So we select the singular "his." Sentence: "Both of the manuscripts had (its, their) good points."

We recognize "both" as the indefinite antecedent of the pair (its, their). We know that the pronoun "both" is always plural. So we select the plural pronoun "their."

Sentence: "One half of the ledgers needed (its, their) covers replaced."

We recognize "half" (fraction) as the antecedent of the pair (its, their). We know that these antecedents (fractions) can be singular or plural. So we examine the noun in the prepositional phrase to learn the number. The pronoun "half" refers to the plural noun "ledgers." So we choose the plural "their."

Conclusion We've had a look at four different types of antecedents that establish the number of the pronoun in any pronoun-number problem. We need only to remember to

1. Identify the antecedent for the pronoun-number problem. 2. Determine the number of the antecedent. 3. Apply the determined number to the pronoun-number problem.

Exercises Which choice correctly states the antecedent and the number of the antecedent to support your choice of pronoun? The answers appear after the last question.

1. The firefighters directed (its, his, their) efforts at stopping the spread of the fire. A. firefighters, plural, their B. efforts, plural, their C. fire, singular, its D. firefighters, singular, his

2. Calgary was successful in (its, their) bid to host the '88 Olympics. A. Calgary, plural, their B. Calgary, singular, its C. bid, singular, its D. Olympics, plural, their

3. The crowd grew noisy as (it, they) waited for the police to arrive. A. police, singular, it B. police, plural, they C. crowd, plural, they D. crowd, singular, it 4. The platoon cheered (its, his, their) leader for his brave efforts. A. platoon, singular, its B. platoon, plural, their C. leader, singular, his D. efforts, plural, their

5. The company decided to reduce staff in order to increase (its, their) profits. A. staff, plural, their B. staff, singular, its C. company, plural, their D. company, singular, its

6. Not the employees but the manager must file (its, her, their) returns by Monday. A. employees, manager, plural, their B. returns, plural, their C. manager, singular, her D. file, singular, its

7. It's both the choir and the conductor who should convey (its, his, their) appreciation for the corporate donation. A. both, plural, their B. choir, singular, its C. choir, conductor, plural, their D. conductor, singular, his

8. Neither of the parts had been accepted because (it, they) did not meet specifications. A. Neither, singular, it B. Neither, plural, they C. parts, plural, they D. specifications, plural, they

9. Everyone of the participants brought (its, her, their) own sheet music to the festival. A. Everyone, plural, their B. Everyone, singular, her C. participants, plural, their D. music, singular, its

10. None of the actors should place (its, her, their) own interpretation on the lead role. A. None, singular, her B. None, plural, their C. actors, plural, their D. interpretation, singular, its

Answers 1, A. 2, B. 3, D. 4, A. 5, D. 6, C. 7, D. 8, A. 9, B. 10, B.