Personal Pronouns

 What IS PERSONAL PRONOUNS

• Personal pronouns are pronouns that are used to refer to specific individuals or things.
   
• Personal pronouns can be singular or plural, and can refer to someone in the first, second, or third person.
  
  
• First person is used when the speaker or narrator is identifying himself or herself.
  
  
• Second person is used when the speaker or narrator is directly addressing another person who is present.
  
  
• Third person is used when the speaker or narrator is referring to a person who is not present or to anything other than a person.
  E.g., a boat, a university, a theory.
  
  
• First-, second-, and third-person personal pronouns can all be singular or plural. Also, all of them can be nominative (the subject of a verb), objective (the object of a verb or preposition), or possessive.
  
  
• Personal pronouns tend to change form as they change number and function.

	Subject pronoun	Object pronoun	Possessive adjective (determiner)	Possessive pronoun	Reflexive or intensive pronoun
1st person singular	I	me	my	mine	myself
2nd person singular	you	you	your	yours	yourself
3rd person singular, male	he	him	his	his	himself
3rd person singular, female	she	her	her	hers	herself
3rd person singular, neutral	it	it	its		itself
1st person plural	we	us	our	ours	ourselves
2nd person plural	you	you	your	yours	yourselves
3rd person plural	they	them	their	theirs	themselves

What is an antecedent?

An antecedent is a noun or pronoun to which another noun or pronoun refers. It usually goes before the pronoun.

Example #1

Even though the party was fun, it was crowded.

Reasoning: "It" is the pronoun because it refers to the noun "party." And "party" is the antecedent because "party" is the noun to which "it," the pronoun, refers.

Example #2

People often like parties because they get to see old friends.

Reasoning: "They" refers to "people" and is, therefore, the pronoun. "People" is the antecedent because "people" is the noun to which "they" refers.

What is pronoun-antecedent agreement?

Pronoun antecedent agreement is when the pronoun agrees in number (referring to singular or plural) and person (referring to first, second, or third person) with its antecedent.

A personal pronoun and its antecedent must agree in 

• Person—first (I, we), second (you), or third (he, she, it, they)
  
  
• Gender—masculine (he), feminine (she), or neuter (it)
  
  
• Number—singular or plural

✘Wrong: The dogs tugged on its leash.

✔ Right: The dogs tugged on their leashes.

Only in the second sentence does the personal pronoun (their) agree with the antecedent (dogs): both are plural.

Indefinite Pronouns as Antecedents

Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that do not refer to specific persons or things. 

When the following indefinite pronouns are used as antecedents, the pronouns that follow them should be singular and gender neutral unless the gender identity of the persons is known.

• each, each one, either, either one, neither
• anyone, anybody, anything, everyone, neither one
• someone, somebody, something, everybody
• none, no one, nobody, everything

Anyone who has finished their test may leave.
Everybody on the team did her best.
Neither ate his dinner.

Two Singular Antecedents

Two or more antecedents joined by and usually require a plural pronoun.

His car and boat were left in their usual places.

Chelsey, Omar, and Manny finished their joint presentation ten minutes early.

However, when the antecedents are preceded by each or every, the pronoun should be singular.

Every family and business must do its part to conserve energy.
(Every makes a singular pronoun necessary.)

Each college and university sent its budget request to the legislature.
(Each makes a singular pronoun necessary.)

Singular antecedents joined by or, either ... or, or neither ... nor require singular pronouns.

Has either Ajdin or Chinh finished his report?

Neither Durand nor Felicite has completed her preparations for the trip.

When a person’s gender is unidentified or nonbinary, singular antecedents require the singular they pronoun.

Has either Ajdin or Chinh finished their report?

Neither Durand nor Felicite has completed their preparations for the trip.

Singular and Plural Antecedents

If one singular and one plural antecedent are joined by or, either ... or, or neither ... nor, the pronoun agrees in number with the closer antecedent.

Either Hongzia or our parents will lend us their car.
(The pronoun their agrees with the plural antecedent “parents.”)

Either our parents or Hongzia will lend us her car.
(The pronoun her agrees with the singular antecedent “Hongzia.”)

Sometimes you must write the antecedents in one particular order to express the desired meaning.

Neither the superintendent nor the workers recognized their peril.
(The pronoun their agrees with the plural antecedent “workers.”)

Neither the workers nor the superintendent recognized her peril.
(The pronoun her agrees with the singular antecedent “superintendent.”)

Notice that the meaning is different in these sentences. In the first, the peril is to everyone. In the second, the peril is to the superintendent only, who uses she/her pronouns.

Collective Nouns as Antecedents

Collective nouns are singular in form but stand for a group of individuals or things. If a collective noun is regarded as a single unit, the pronoun that refers to it should be singular. If the collective noun is regarded as a group of individuals acting separately, then the pronoun should be plural.

The group presented its resolution.
(The group is acting as a unit.)

Yesterday the team signed their contracts for the coming season.
(The team is acting as a group of individuals.)

Singular "They" Usage

Use the singular they pronoun to refer to one representative person. Treat as singular “a person,” “an individual,” “the typical student,” or “an average American” that could be represented by multiple genders.

Tips on pronoun-antecedent agreement

• A plural pronoun should be used with a compound antecedent joined by and.
  Ex- Mary and Bill ran until they were exhausted.
  
  
• A singular pronoun is used to refer to two or more singular antecedents joined by or or nor. A plural pronoun is used with two or more plural antecedents joined by or or nor.
  Ex- Ben or Tom will give his presentation today.
  Ex- Either the juniors or the seniors are singing their class song.
  
  
• When a singular antecedent and a plural antecedent are joined by or or nor, use a pronoun that agrees with the nearer antecedent.
  Ex- The boy or his parents will present their idea.
  Ex- The parents or the boy will present his idea.
  
  
• Use a singular pronoun when a collective noun refers to a group as a single unit. Use a plural pronoun when the collective noun refers to a group's members as individuals.
  Ex- The class decided it wanted to do the project.
  Ex- The class stayed in their desks.
  
  
• Use singular pronouns to refer to indefinite pronouns (words like everybody, none, nobody, someone) used as antecedents.
  Ex- Each of the boys had his assignment ready.
  Ex- Everyone on the women's team improved her time.
  Ex- Everybody on the committee had his or her own agenda.
  
  
• Use the relative pronouns who, whom, which, and that with the appropriate antecedents.
  Ex- Who refers to people and animals that have names.
  Ex- He is the one who committed the crime.

EXERCISES + ANSWERS