The (Positively) Pronoun Agreement Page:
What
"Pronoun Agreement" means is that when you replace a noun with a
pronoun, the pronoun has to have a form that matches the noun.
What's
easy about this is that if you've been using English for more than a
few years, you already know, just by the sound, when you're using the
correct pronoun.
Him is going fishing. Blechhhh! Sounds awful. Must... change... "him"... to... "he "! He is going fishing. Awright!
How about:
I gave Jane a dollar for his pencil.
Unless Jane got a sex change, the "his" ought to be "her."
There are times when we have become so used to the way non-standard English sounds, that we may miss the need to translate.
It's me.
Works just fine for communication, but when you need the formal structure of Standard English, "It is I." would be expected.
Whenever
you use a pronoun in conjunction with another noun or another pronoun,
always test it by saying the sentence in your head dropping the other
noun or pronoun:
Him and I got into a disastrous fight to the death.
Would you say "I got into a disastrous fight."? Sure!
Would you say "Him got into..."? Noooooo.
Or:
Ralph gave the magic potion to Stinky and I.
Would you say "Ralph gave the magic potion to I."? Nooooo
You may feel comfortable enough with your ability to "sound" what is correct.
If you would like more information, we've got it!
For your convenience, I've gone into the specifics of how to make a pronoun agree in Number, Gender and Case below.
Just scroll down or click on Number, Gender or Case.
There is also a nice Pronoun Use Chart that I've put on a separate page so you may easily print it out if your handbook does not have one. You're welcome.
Pronoun Number:
In the wonderful world of pronouns there are only two numbers: singular and plural.
Makes things simple.
As long as you know the number in the word the pronoun refers to, you've got it knocked.
Four thousand and fifty three screaming chipmunks descended on the startled pussy cat. They tore the cat to pieces.
Just fine, but try reading it with "they" replaced by a singular pronoun, "he" for instance. Yuck!
While
in most cases, the correct number, singular or plural, is pretty
obvious, there are a few instances where non-standard gets in the way
of standard.
"Each" is often a hassle:
Each of the cheerleaders gave their loudest cheer.
may sound OK, but "each" is a singular pronoun and "their" is plural.
Bad.
You need to change to:
The cheerleaders gave their loudest cheer.
or
Each of the cheerleaders gave his loudest cheer.
or, if your school only has female cheer leaders
Each of the cheerleaders gave her loudest cheer.
In English, both Nonstandard and Standard we have a kind of pronoun called "Indefinite Pronouns."
When you know you need a word to cover some, a bunch, several etc., but you don't know exactly how many try one of these.
Here's
a list of the indefinite pronouns in English. Your handbook probably
has the same list, but you can't see it too many times. Or can you . .
.?
|
anyone
|
everybody
|
somebody
|
|
anybody
|
everyone
|
one
|
|
either
|
someone
|
each
|
|
neither
|
no one
|
|
|
Each of them is a singular word.
Any time you use another pronoun to refer to one of those words, the pronoun needs to be singular also.
Even if it doesn't make sense! "everybody" sure sounds like more than one to me!
But in Standard English you would say:
Everybody did his best.
Take a couple of minutes to look over places in your writing where you have used one or more of these words.
Are there any pronouns used to refer to the words?
Are the pronouns singular (good) or plural (bad)?
Yeah, yeah, I know that "his" may be referring to a woman, since "everybody" probably includes some women.
So
far, however, the suggestion that to avoid gender bias by using the
incorrect (Standard English) plural form "their" instead of the correct
"his" has not become widely accepted.
You will need, as you always must, to consider what words are most appropriate for your intended audience.
See below for an elaboration on male/female problems.
Not that kind of problem!
Grammar problems!
Pronoun Gender:
You'd think that with the limited number of genders we have, that this would be easy.
It is.
If
your pronoun refers to a girl you use a girl pronoun (she, her, hers),
if your pronoun refers to a boy, you use a boy pronoun (he, his, him).
When you're unsure, or when the pronoun refers to a mixed group, you use the boy pronouns.
This can lead to some discomfort.
Why use the masculine pronouns instead of the feminine pronouns when the group is mixed?
The answer is that before society at large realized the offense in this arbitrary choice, the custom had become set in stone.
While
we chip away at the stone, there are some things you may do that are
both consistent with Standard English and your sense of fairness.
Suppose you wrote about a woman's basketball team.
The context tells us that "everyone" on this particular team is female, so you correctly write:
Everyone gave her best.
You might also reword your sentences.
A simple way to do this would be to use "him or her, he or she, his or hers" instead of "him, he, his"
If the noun your pronoun refers to is singular, you are expected to use a male pronoun:
Whenever a person stands up for his beliefs, he honors us all.
But that sentence could easily become:
Whenever people stand up for their beliefs, they honor us all.
Or even classier:
Whenever people stand up for cherished beliefs, those people honor us all.
Practice being sensitive to the effects of sexist language.
Practice being sensitive to the needs of Standard English.
We can do both.
Pronoun Case:
When writing or speaking formal, Standard English one of the pronoun rules is to use the appropriate "case."
Case is about how the pronoun is used.
Is the noun replaced by the pronoun the subject of the sentence?
The object of a verb or preposition?
Does the noun show possession?
You already know most of these, especially if English is the language you've lived with for more than a few years.
You know what "sounds right", and that is usually correct.
But sometimes you just need to make sure.
Pronoun-as-subject, sometimes called "Subjective Case":
He dropped his pants.
Pronoun-as-direct object, "Objective Case":
Jeraldine smacked him across the mouth.
Pronoun-as-object of a preposition, another Objective Case example:
Oscar gave his favorite pet alligator to her.
Pronoun showing possession, sometimes called "Possessive Case":
The rutabaga bush was theirs.
To
sum up. If the pronoun is used as an object, use an objective form; if
the pronoun is used as a subject, use the subjective form; if it shows
possession use the Possessive Form.
To see an overview of which pronouns to use in which situations you can click to the Pronoun Chart.
This next statement is repeated in several other places in this program. It should be.
Whenever
you use a pronoun in conjunction with another noun or another pronoun,
always test it by saying the sentence in your head dropping the other
noun or pronoun:
Him and I got into a disastrous fight to the death.
Would you say "I got into a disastrous fight."?
Sure!
Would you say "Him got into..."?
Noooooo.
Ralph gave the magic potion to Stinky and I.
Would you say "Ralph gave the magic potion to I."? Nooooo
Before
you write your dialogue with MOP about Pronoun Agreement, you should
consider going over some work in progress, something you are about to
do a deadline (final) draft of.
How did you do with Pronoun Agreement?
To return to Step Two, please click : HERE
