Basic Noun-Pronoun Agreement

Nouns and their pronouns make another set of teammates who must agree not only on the direction in which they are going to run, but on the type of play they are going to use to score a point. That is, they need to agree on two things:

Number (singular/one or plural/more than one)
Gender (male, female, neutral)

For example, the following sentences do not make sense since the pronouns do not agree with their nouns in number (1st sentence) or gender (2nd sentence):

Elvis sightings have occurred more abundantly in the last two years; he has been occurring at the rate of ten per month.

I know a woman who likes Elvis Presley's music so much, he trained her dog (named Elvis) to thump her tail and bark in rhythm to all of its tapes.

The sentences do make sense when the pronoun gender and number is straightened out:

Elvis sightings have occurred more abundantly in the last two years; they have been occurring at the rate of ten per month.

("Sightings" is the noun to which the pronoun refers; it is plural and thus requires the plural pronoun "they" to make sense. Note that the verb changes as well since verbs have to agree with their nouns [or pronouns].)

I know a woman who likes Elvis Presley's music so much, she trained her dog (named Elvis) to thump his tail and bark in rhythm to all of her tapes.

("Woman" is a feminine noun, so it requires the feminine pronoun "her." You can assume, because of its name, that the dog is male, so it would be more correct to say "his" tail. If you don't know the dog's gender, you could say "its" tail. Yet "its" does not make sense when referring to the tapes, since the neutral pronoun "its" implies that the tapes belong to the dog. So you could say "her tapes," to show that they belong to the woman, or "his tapes" to refer to the tapes of Elvis' singing.)

It's simple, right? Yet there are two major stumbling blocks with noun-pronoun agreement:

Tricky Indefinite Pronouns:

In most cases, it is clear whether a pronoun's antecedent is singular or plural. For instance, the word girls is plural, so it needs a plural pronoun like they or them or their. On the other hand, the word girl is singular, so it clearly needs a singular pronoun like she or her.

But what about indefinite pronouns--such as all, any, both, each, every, few, many, neither, nobody, and none? They do not refer to a specific, definite person. Thus they are called "indefinite pronouns." The indefinite pronouns are a bit trickier than relative pronouns. These indefinite pronouns may be singular or plural; however, there a few of these pronouns that can be singular in one context (usage) and plural in another context (usage)—please refer to the chart below labeled “Indefinite Pronouns Chart). The following pronouns are always singular grammatically, even though it might seem they should be plural:

  • each
  • anybody
  • somebody
  • nobody
  • everybody
  • one
  • anyone
/
  • everyone
  • someone
  • neither
  • either
  • nothing
  • anything
  • everything
  • something

NOTE: A good rule of thumb to remember is that all the words ending in -one, -thing, and -body are singular. Thus, in formal grammar, we would write sentences such as "everyone took his book to class with him" or "everybody in the cheerleading squad took her gymbag with her to the game."

The words ending in -one and -body must use a singular form, even though these words might seem to be plural when we think of "everybody in a crowd" or "everybody in Texas." Don't think of the word that way. Instead, think of it as being equivalent to "every single individual." For example, "Every single student took his book to class with him" is equivalent to "everyone took his book to class with him." Just aseach single studentis singular, everyone is also considered singular.

Remember that these pronouns all use singular verbs. We write that, "Everybody is here." We don't write, "Everybody are here." Just as everybody uses a singular form of the verb, in the same way, it must use other singular pronouns in reference to itself when it is the antecedent in a sentence.

The following sentences in red are incorrect grammatically:

NO! WRONG! "Everyone took their book to class with them that day." The sentence should state, "Everyone took his book with him that day" or "Everyone took her book with her to class that day."

NO! WRONG! "Nobody brought their homework, however." The sentence should state, "Nobody brought his homework" or "Nobody brought her homework."

NO! WRONG! " Someone left their socks in the hallway." The sentence should state, "Somebody left her socks in the hallway" or "Somebody left his socks in the hallway."

On the Other Hand ...

However, the following pronouns are always plural in grammatical usage:

  • both
  • several
  • few
  • many
  • all

These words all require plural pronouns (like they, them, and their) and they all use plural verbs.

For example, the following sentences in blue are punctuated correctly, but those sentences in red are incorrect grammatically:

YES! CORRECT! Both of them are coming home tonight.

NO! WRONG! Both of them is coming home tonight.

YES! CORRECT! Several performances are scheduled for next week.

NO! WRONG! Several performances is scheduled for next week.

YES! CORRECT! All are guilty of transgression in their hearts.

NO! WRONG! All is guilty of transgression in his heart.

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite". Some typical indefinite pronouns are:

  • all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything, each, everybody/everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody/someone

Note that many indefinite pronouns also function as other parts of speech. Look at "another" in the following sentences:

  • He has one job in the day and another at night. (pronoun)
  • I'd like another drink, please. (adjective)

Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed below, with examples, as singular, plural or singular/plural.

Notice that a singular pronoun takes a singular verb AND that any personal pronoun should also agree (in number and gender). Look at these examples:

  • Each of the players has a doctor.
  • I met two girls. Onehas given me her phone number.

Similarly, plural pronouns need plural agreement:

  • Manyhave expressed their views

INDEFINITE PRONOUN CHART.

pronoun / Meaning / example
Singular
another / an additional or different person or thing / That ice-cream was good. Can I have another?
anybody/anyone / no matter what person / Can anyone answer this question?
anything / no matter what thing / The doctor needs to know if you have eaten anything in the last two hours.
each / every one of two or more people or things, seen separately / Each has his own thoughts.
either / one or the other of two people or things / Do you want tea or coffee? / I don't mind. Either is good for me.
enough / as much or as many as needed / Enough is enough.
everybody/everyone / all people / We can start the meeting because everybody has arrived.
everything / all things / They have no house or possessions. They lost everything in the earthquake.
less / a smaller amount / "Less is more" (Mies van der Rohe)
little / a small amount / Little is known about his early life.
much / a large amount / Much has happend since we met.
neither / not one and not the other of two people or things / I keep telling Jack and Jill but neither believes me.
nobody/no-one / no person / I phoned many times but nobody answered.
nothing / no single thing, not anything / If you don't know the answer it's best to say nothing.
one / an unidentified person / Can one smoke here? | All the students arrived but now one is missing.
other / a different person or thing from one already mentioned / One was tall and the other was short.
somebody/someone / an unspecified or unknown person / Clearly somebody murdered him. It was not suicide.
something / an unspecified or unknown thing / Listen! I just heard something! What could it be?
you / an unidentified person (informal) / And you can see why.
Plural
both / two people or things, seen together / John likes coffee but not tea. I think both are good.
few / a small number of people or things / Few have ever disobeyed him and lived.
fewer / a reduced number of people or things / Fewer are smoking these days.
Many / a large number of people or things / Many have come already.
Others / other people; not us / I'm sure that others have tried before us.
Several / more than two but not many / They all complained and several left the meeting.
They / People in general (informal) / They say that vegetables are good for you.
singular or plural
All / the whole quantity of something or of some things or people / All is forgiven.
All have arrived.
Any / no matter how much or how many / Is any left?
Are any coming?
More / a greater quantity of something; a greater number of people or things / There is more over there.
More are coming.
Most / the majority; nearly all / Most is lost.
Most have refused.
None / not any; no person or persons / They fixed the water so why is none coming out of the tap?
I invited five friends but none have come.*
Some / an unspecified quantity of something; an unspecified number of people or things / Here is some.
Some have arrived.
Such / of the type already mentioned / He was a foreigner and he felt that he was treated as such.

* Some people say that "none" should always take a singular verb, even when talking about countable nouns (eg five friends). They argue that "none" means "no one", and "one" is obviously singular. They say that "I invited five friends but none has come" is correct and "I invited five friends but none have come" is incorrect. Historically and grammatically there is little to support this view. "None" has been used for hundreds of years with both a singular and a plural verb, according to the context and the emphasis required.

Above chart retrieved from:

Exercises

EXERCISE 1:UNDERLINE THE CORRECT WORD OR WORDS IN THE PARENTHESES. ALSO, UNDERLINE THE ANTECEDENT OF THE PRONOUN.

1.Someone has removed the grammar book, and I want (him, them) to return it.

2.Although I knew somebody called me, I did not answer (her, them).

3.Each man must do what (he, they) feel(s) is right.

4.Everybody in the lab was ready to complete (her, their) assignment.

5.No one wants to admit (his, their) weaknesses.

6.Everybody wanted to claim (his, their) strengths.

7.One of the students lost (his, their) books.

8.Anybody who wants to improve (his, their) grades may sometimes need help.

9.All of the students have arrived to (his, their) classroom.

10.Either Ms. Marco or Ms. Linko wants to sell (her, their) car.

Agreement: cross out the correct pronoun, placing correct version above it. If correct, place the letter C at the end of the sentence.

15.Every student furnished her own transportation.

16.Each band member brought his own instrument.

17.The collection of books was famous for their popularity with young people.

18.The media wants to set its own hours for meeting with the staff.

19.Either Paul or Jim will lend me their notes.

20.Bad news always has its way of traveling fast.

21.The jury gave their verdict at sundown.

22.The United States expressed their disapproval of the war.

23.The United Nations didn’t give its approval either.

24.Before the game, the team must try on its new uniforms.

There are a number of online quizzes available to check you skill in pronoun agreement. One such site is:

Also, there will be some SAT “Error Identification Error” questions on the mid-term. There are a number of sites that can quiz you on this—just Google “SAT error identification practice”—one such site is