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Antecedents of Pronouns

The nouns (or words that take the place of nouns) for which the pronouns stand are called antecedents.

Examples

Juan went to the guava bushes and ate all the fruit he could hold, and then he decided to play a joke on his father’s guests instead of giving them a feast of guavas.

In this sentence, the antecedent of he is Juan.

Personal pronouns also indicate who is speaking or who is spoken to or about:

  1. the person speaking called the First person;
  2. the person spoken to called the Second person; or,
  3. the person, place, or thing spoken about, called the Third person.

Personal pronouns can both be the subject or object of the sentence.

Pronouns that show ownership are then called possessive pronouns.

Examples


Person Subject Pronouns Possessive Pronouns
Singular Plural Singular Plural
First Person I We My, mine Our, ours
Second Person you You Your, yours Your, yours
Third Person He, she, it They His, her, hers, its Its, their, theirs

Study the pronouns and the antecedents they refer to in the sentences. What rules can you infer from these sentences?

Father was talking to Juan and told him to pick guavas.

Juan gave the guests their guavas in baskets.

A personal pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, person, and gender. The number of a pronoun indicates if it is singular or plural. A singular pronoun is used when two or more singular antecedents are joined by or or nor.

Example

Neither Mike nor Juan will bring his backpack.

A plural pronoun is used when two or more antecedents are joined by and.

Example

Juan and his father are talking about their plans in the kitchen.