Pronoun Number Agreement and Use
Rule 1: All NOUNS and PRONOUNS in a sentence must have logical number (singular or plural) and gender (male, female, thing) agreement.
ONE ---- “One” HE/SHE ---- Singular THEY/THEIR ---- Plural Things ----- it
Incorrect
If one is to succeed in his/her college,
they must allow time to study.
Correct
Rule 2: When two antecedents are joined by OR or NOR, use the closest noun/pronoun to decide if it’s a singular or plural pronoun.
Incorrect Correct
Either Alex or Andy will bring their model
of a volcano to class.
Rule 3: Use a plural personal pronoun with two antecedents joined by AND.
Incorrect Correct
Melissa and I are studying for her exams.
DIRECTIONS: Circle the error(s) and then rewrite the following sentences so that they satisfy all of the grammar rules for pronouns.
1) If anybody wants to succeed in corporate life, they have to know the rules of the game.
2) Kendra and Denise will share her project with the class today.
3) When the time arrives, Kevin or Frank will bring his book.
4) After welcoming the finalists, the director asked each of them to bring their own instrument.
5) The ideal castle was a self-sufficient village that met all of their resident’s needs.
NAME:____________________________________________
ENGLISH 3 CP
Pronoun Agreement
DIRECTIONS: The pronoun is underlined/highlighted for you. Match the underlined pronoun with its antecedent and make any corrections necessary so that they are in agreement.
1. If everyone picked up a single piece of litter every day, you would discover that the planet would become a much cleaner place.
2. The Committee of Victorious Vegetarians picketed the cafeteria so that they could protest the cruel and unusual treatment of plant matter by the cooks.
3. While they were watching the Battle of the Bands, Mark and Pedro made bets on which musician of Nuclear Toasters would trash their guitar first.
4. The cats, along with Jasper the dog, believes that the bed is his, and humans are permitted to sleep on it only because they warm the mattress.
5. Jenny almost stabbed her husband Bill with the $150 sewing scissors because he had used it to cut roofing shingles.
6. Before a person adopts a big, hairy dog, they need to consider the amount of time spent vacuuming the floors.
DIRECTIONS: Circle the pronoun and its antecedent. Then, make any corrections necessary so that they are in agreement.
7. Captain Kirk, as well as the other bridge crew, denied that they had dented the right thruster of the Enterprise while buzzing a Romulan outpost.
8. Every student, professor, librarian, groundskeeper, secretary, and coach cheered their approval when the cafeteria staff agreed to treat vegetables more kindly.
9. My friend Eric, like too many students in our Basic Spanish class, believes that they don't need to learn a foreign language.
10. Either Ryan or his brothers will give his socks to a complete stranger complaining about blisters.
11. My friends would argue less if everyone kept opinions about basketball, music, and women to themselves.
12. When classes begin this year, Edgewater High School will only allow all their students to have piercings in their ears.
Published by “Grammar Bytes” at www.chompchomp.com. 2012.
NAME:____________________________________________
ENGLISH 2 APPL
Pronoun Agreement
DIRECTIONS: The pronoun is underlined/highlighted for you. Match the underlined pronoun with its antecedent and make any corrections necessary so that they are in agreement.
1. If anyone picked up a single piece of litter every day, they would discover that the planet would become a much cleaner place.
2. The Committee of Victorious Vegetarians picketed the cafeteria so that they could protest the cruel and unusual treatment of plant matter by the cooks.
3. While they were watching the Battle of the Bands, Mark and Pedro made bets on which musician of Nuclear Toasters would trash their guitar first.
4. Jenny almost stabbed her husband Bill with the $150 sewing scissors because he had used it to cut roofing shingles.
5. Before a person adopts a big, hairy dog, they need to consider the amount of time spent vacuuming the floors.
6. Captain Kirk denied that they had dented the right thruster of the Enterprise while buzzing a Romulan outpost.
7. Everyone cheered their approval when the cafeteria staff agreed to treat vegetables more kindly.
8. My friend Eric believes that they don't need to learn a foreign language.
9. Either Ryan or his brothers will give his socks to a complete stranger complaining about blisters.
10. We all would argue less if everyone kept opinions about basketball, music, and women to themselves.
11. When classes begin this year, Edgewater High School will only allow their students to have piercings in their ears.
Published by “Grammar Bytes” at www.chompchomp.com. 2012.
PRONOUN NUMBER AGREEMENT WARM-UPS:
1) If every student writes the required 6,000 words for the research essay, they will keep Mrs. Spence busy grading until the end of the semester.
My weird neighbors believe that the Loch Ness Monster ate Elvis, but he or she disagrees that space aliens have kidnapped the brain of the President.
2) During away games, neither the basketball players nor Coach Jones can get their beauty sleep because the college vans bounce along on bad shock absorbers.
Both the living room furniture and the kitchen counter have its surface scarred from cigarettes that my chain-smoking Aunt Mary carelessly put down.
3) Watching the new recruits marching in the hot sun, the two drill sergeants made bets on which soldier would be the first to vomit their lunch during the strenuous exercise.
When the earthquake shook everyone awake, the family dashed outside without worrying about their possessions in the house.
4) . After using the scissors to trim a loose thread on his new suit, Marvin left it on the couch where his mother later stabbed her thigh on the sharp points.
Before a person buys a car with a V-8 engine, they need to think about the frequent trips to the gas pump to fill the tank.
5) A crew member on the Enterprise learns never to make bald jokes in front of Captain Picard, for he will make them scrub all fifty transporter pads with a toothbrush.
All of the clowns, acrobats, animal trainers, and audience members gasped in horror when he or she saw the knife juggler accidentally slice off his own hand with a chainsaw.
Pronoun Use
Determine whether the pronoun is used as the subject or object before deciding which form to use.
- Subject Forms (DO the action): I, we, he, she, it, they, who(ever)
I threw the ball. They love chocolate. Whoever comes can help?
- Object Forms (TAKE on the action): me, us, him, her, it, them, whom(ever)
I threw the ball at him. They gave chocolate to me. He’ll sit with whom?
Incorrect Correct
The article offered good advice to whoever has
money to invest.
Tom and me had dinner at Carrabas.
DIRECTIONS: Correct the following sentences so that they satisfy all of the grammar rules for pronouns.
1) After I had admitted our error, I asked the coach to give Karen and I a chance to redeem ourselves.
2) The teacher and me inspected the map.
3) The most experienced traveler was I.
4) Whom wrote the letter?
5) The teacher told John and me to go home
6) Mark asked he about the report.
7) We want to know on who the prank was pulled.
Rule 5: Sentences with ambiguous pronoun references should be avoided (don’t use dangling modifier).
Correct Incorrect
I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.
8) *The girl was walking the dog in the short skirt.
9) *I will bring my bike tomorrow if it looks nice.
10) *They hit the old man with the cane.