In the sentences
Simon came home early. He was not feeling well.
we say that Simon is the antecedent of he. The pronoun he
agrees with its antecedent in number (singular), person (third) and gender (masculine). This is called antecedent agreement .
For the purposes of clear communication, it is important to ensure that there is agreement between a pronoun and its antecedent.
In the following, there is no agreement:
A good speaker system can be all that’s needed to transform your PC from a piece of furniture into an entertainment centre. They can
give games a lift as much as any posh graphics card.
Since the antecedent a good speaker system is singular, we would expect the singular pronoun it in the second sentence: It can give games a lift . . .
Perhaps more importantly for clear communication, the antecedent should be unambiguous:
Laura used to babysit a little girl who kept throwing her shoes in the fire.
Here, the antecedent of her is ambiguous. Whose shoes were thrown in the fire, Laura’s or the little girl’s? In grammatical terms, is Laura or a little girl the antecedent of her?
Simon came home early. He was not feeling well.
we say that Simon is the antecedent of he. The pronoun he
agrees with its antecedent in number (singular), person (third) and gender (masculine). This is called antecedent agreement .
For the purposes of clear communication, it is important to ensure that there is agreement between a pronoun and its antecedent.
In the following, there is no agreement:
A good speaker system can be all that’s needed to transform your PC from a piece of furniture into an entertainment centre. They can
give games a lift as much as any posh graphics card.
Since the antecedent a good speaker system is singular, we would expect the singular pronoun it in the second sentence: It can give games a lift . . .
Perhaps more importantly for clear communication, the antecedent should be unambiguous:
Laura used to babysit a little girl who kept throwing her shoes in the fire.
Here, the antecedent of her is ambiguous. Whose shoes were thrown in the fire, Laura’s or the little girl’s? In grammatical terms, is Laura or a little girl the antecedent of her?
