Need Help?

Get in touch with us

searchclose
bannerAd

Pronoun Agreement 

Grade 6
Aug 29, 2022
link

Read the following sentences: 

  1. A lady is watching a show with her friend. 
  1. Two men seem to be enjoying their evening watching the show. 
  1. The stand-up comic is performing his act.  

The sentences framed make good use of the pronouns. In sentence 1, the pronoun used is her because the antecedent a lady, that has to be replaced with the pronoun is a female.  

Similarly, sentence 2 uses the pronoun their, as the antecedent is plural. 

Likewise, the remaining sentence also uses the respective pronoun accordingly. 

But we cannot frame a sentence like “my brother likes her sneakers.” 

The reason is, just like the subject of a sentence has to agree with its verb, the pronoun must also agree with its antecedent to form a grammatically correct and sensible sentence.  

parallel

This session looks in detail at some of the rules that will help us have a better understanding of this part.  

The general point up on which the entire pronoun agreement rules are based is: 

“A pronoun must match, or agree, with its antecedent in number, person, and gender.” 

Now, let us have a look at the rules: 

Rule 1: 

This rule, known as the number agreement, states that a singular noun should be replaced by a singular pronoun and a plural noun should be replaced by a plural pronoun in sentences to avoid repetition of the nouns, like: 

parallel
  • Becky won’t be able to make it because she has an appointment with the doctor. 
  • The boys are over the moon as they have qualified for the finals. 
  • Finn felt that he was not ready to take up the challenge yet. 

Points to keep in mind: 

  • If the conjunction and is used to join two nouns, we should use a plural pronoun, like: 
  • Ross and Joseph sold their apartment. 
  • Simona and I have got our tickets booked. 
  • If the conjunctions or / nor are used to join two nouns, we should use a singular pronoun like: 
  • Neither Michael nor he kept his promise. 
  • Either Charlotte or Angel has to change her plans. 

Rule 2: 

This rule, known as the person agreement, states that:  

  1. While talking about ourselves, we should use the I, me, we, or us, like: 
  • My name is Luke, and I live in Texas. 
  • My team won the trophy and we are extremely happy about it. 
  • I don’t like anybody telling me what to do. 
  • We didn’t let them overtake us
  1. While directly addressing someone, we should use the pronoun you and if the antecedent is someone else, we should use the pronouns he, she, it, they, him, her, or their, like; 
  • Gary, you should stop making fun of others. 
  • My mother thinks that she is being too strict with me. 
  • He shouldn’t let his temper get better of him everytime. 

Rule 3: 

This rule, known as the gender agreement, states that if the antecedent is a male, we should use the pronouns he, him, and his and if the antecedent is a female, we should use the pronouns she and her, like; 

  • That man out there thinks that he knows about everything in the world. 
  • Rachel said that she will be applying for a transfer soon. 
  • Leo misses his puppy. 
  • Emily loves her new watch. 

If the gender of the antecedent is not given, use he or she, his or her, or him/his, like: 

  • The writer should structure his or her story coherently. 

If the antecedent is plural, use they and their, like: 

  • The workers said that they won’t work if their salary is increased. 
Pronoun Agreement

Comments:

Related topics

Adjectives

Exploring the World of Adjectives: Types, Usage, and Examples

What are Parts of Speech? Parts of speech determine words’ grammatical and semantic position in a sentence. Activity time The parts of speech are nouns, adverbs, conjunctions, pronouns, interjections, adjectives, articles, prepositions, and verbs. Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words in the following sentences. White- Adjective Big- Adjective    Exciting- Adjectives New- […]

Read More >>
Memoir writing

Memoir Writing: Basic Elements, Structures, and Types

Memoir: A memoir is a narrative written from an author’s perspective about a particular facet of his/her own life. ‘Memoir’ word comes from the French word ‘memoire’, which means ‘memory’ or ‘reminiscence’. Example Night: Elie Wiesel gives an account of how he survived his teenage years at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps during World War […]

Read More >>
Identifying the main idea

Identification of Main Idea in Fiction and Non-fiction

Every story or paragraph or non-fictional text has at least one main idea. The MAIN IDEA is what the text is mostly about. (It is backed up or supported by SUPPORTING DETAILS) Before discussing how to find the main idea, we shall first look at TOPIC. Can you define a topic? A topic can be […]

Read More >>
Writing an Article

Writing an Article: Structure and Essential Tips

What is an article? Structure of Article Writing : Title : Draw the attention of readers with an attractive title and indicate the main topic of the article Introduction : Attract the reader’s attention with a sentence that gives a general presentation of the topic. Main Body : Between these sentences, the body should do […]

Read More >>

Other topics