Which antecedent noun

When John comes inside, John will dry off with John's towel in John's bathroom. Here, the repetition of the noun John prevents the sentence from flowing properly.

When John comes inside, he will dry off with his towel in his bathroom. Here, repetition of the word John is eliminated by using pronouns.

In this sentence, John is an antecedent that is later replaced by "he" and "his. Antecedents for Nouns or Noun Phrases Pronouns aren't the only option for replacing antecedents with other terms. When John comes inside, the boy will dry off with his towel in his bathroom. Here, the antecedent John is replaced with "the boy," in addition to being replaced with "his" later on. When John comes inside, the wet boy will dry off with his towel in his bathroom.

Here, the more vivid noun phrase "the wet boy" is used to replace John once within in the sentence, along with "his" later in the sentence. Understanding Antecedent Agreement An antecedent and the word that replaces it must agree in number.

John is a singular noun, so it must be replaced by a singular word, such as "he. Here, "the kids" is plural, so the replacement word must also be plural, such as "they. Compound Subjects as Antecedents Some antecedents are compound subjects , which means they feature two nouns joined by a conjunction like "and" or "or.

Consider the examples below: Jack and Jane were here at 6 p. When the antecedents are joined with "and," as with "Jack and Jane," the pronoun needs to be plural since it encompasses both people. Either Julie or Jane will loan me her notes from yesterday's class. Printed to create a handout. Sent electronically to friends or students. Did you spot a typo? Grammarly's app will help with: 1 Avoiding spelling errors 2 Correcting grammar errors 3 Finding better words This free browser extension works with webmail, social media, and texting apps as well as online forms and Microsoft Office documents, like Word and Teams.

Download the app. The Antecedent Recognize an antecedent when you find one. Antecedents and Personal Pronouns Often, an antecedent is the word, phrase , or clause that you replace with a third-person personal pronoun : Third-Person Personal Pronouns he, him, his, himself she, her, hers, herself it, its, itself they, them, their, theirs, themselves Here are examples: Adeline bit her lip.

Antecedents and Demonstrative Pronouns Other times, the antecedent might be the word, phrase , or clause that a demonstrative pronoun replaces. Demonstrative Pronouns this, that, these, those Read the examples below: Jackson rides his skateboard to work.

Antecedents and Relative Pronouns Sometimes the antecedent is the point of reference for a relative pronoun. Relative Pronouns who, whom, whose, that, which Read these examples: Principal Meyers , whose nose hair curled outside his nostrils, delivered the morning announcements. Some antecedents can make pronoun agreement tricky.

A singular antecedent requires a singular pronoun, like this: The cat yowled its happiness for tuna. And a plural antecedent requires a plural pronoun, like this: The cats yowled their happiness for tuna.

Sometimes, however, establishing agreement can be tricky. Consider the situations below. Each and Every When you join two or more singular nouns with and , you create a plural antecedent: The beetle and baby snake were thankful that they escaped the lawnmower blade. If, however, you include each or every in front, the antecedent becomes singular and will thus require a singular pronoun: Each beetle and baby snake was thankful that it escaped the lawnmower blade.

No matter how many nouns you include, if you have each or every in front, the antecedent is singular and needs a singular pronoun for agreement: Each beetle, baby snake, worm, centipede, lizard, grasshopper, and toad was thankful that it escaped the lawnmower blade. Correlative Conjunctions When you use correlative conjunctions like either If, for example, the second antecedent is plural, then the pronoun that follows must be plural: Not only Freddy the nose picker but also grateful shoppers replenished their supply of tissues during the drugstore sale.

But if the second antecedent is singular, then you need a singular pronoun to maintain agreement: Not only grateful shoppers but also Freddy the nose picker replenished his supply of tissues during the drugstore sale.

Singular Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns , a special class of words, will often be antecedents. Singular Indefinite Pronouns each, either, neither, one anybody, anyone, anything everybody, everyone, everything nobody, no one, nothing somebody, someone, something Read these examples: Neither of Jasmine's boyfriends knows that he has competition.

In older publications, you will find writers exclusively using a masculine personal pronoun he , him , his , or himself to establish agreement with a singular indefinite pronoun such as everyone : When Professor Duncan shouted, "Time is up! Excluding half the human race was deemed unfair, so in the late twentieth century, writers tried to give masculine and feminine singular pronouns equal use, like this: When Professor Duncan shouted, "Time is up!

As a result, you can now find writers producing sentences like this: When Professor Duncan shouted, "Time is up! Other contemporary writers believe that agreement still matters, so their solution is to avoid singular indefinite pronouns altogether, choosing plural nouns instead: When Professor Duncan shouted, "Time is up! Collective Nouns Class , family , jury , and team are examples of collective nouns. If all the members are doing the same thing at the same time, then the collective noun is singular and requires a singular pronoun for agreement: The Larsen family does its shopping every Saturday.

In Jane lost a glove and she can't find it, Jane is the antecedent of she and glove is the antecedent of it. See synonyms for antecedent on Thesaurus. See antonyms for antecedent on Thesaurus. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Words nearby antecedent anteater , antebellum , antecede , antecedence , antecedency , antecedent , antecedents , antecessor , antechamber , antechapel , antechoir.

Words related to antecedent anterior , former , past , precedent , preliminary , earlier , foregoing , preceding , precursory , previous.