A pronoun is a word in a sentence that is used to take the place of a noun. A pronoun can also take the
place of another pronoun. All pronouns have antecedants. An antecedent of a pronoun is the word in the
sentence that the pronoun is refering to.
Singular pronouns should be used when they are taking the place of a
singular word. Plural pronouns should be used when they are taking the place of a
plural word or group. You must figure out the antecendent, which is the word
that the pronoun is taking the place of.
Example:
A plural pronoun should be used in the following sentence to refer to the girls.
When the girls became hungry she went to the restaurant to get something to eat.
When the girls became hungry they went to the restaurant to get something to eat.
Pronoun Reference
It is important to figure out what antecendent the pronoun is refrering to, because a pronoun can refer to only
antecendent. Sometimes you will come across a sentence where the antecendent is not clear, this is called a
pronound reference error and needs to be fixed.
Example:
They will be coming over for dinner soon.
Who are 'they' in the preceeding sentence, and what noun is 'they' referring to?
