You can see the awkwardness this situation can cause this is where a review of Gender-Fair and Neutral Language may be useful. everybody, everything, each, anybody, anyone, anything, either, nobody, neither, no one, someone, something.ĭespite the fact that several of these words may seem to refer to zero people or things or multiple people or things, grammatically all of these words are singular, and will only take 'he,' 'she,' or 'it' for pronouns.There are a group of pronouns known as indefinite pronouns: Sometimes pronouns can actually take other pronouns.You should be aware of some complicating factors, however. NUMBER AGREEMENT: This seems like a no-brainer: if you use a singular noun, use a singular pronoun a plural noun, a plural pronoun. This page will discuss maintaining pronoun-antecedent agreement in number and clarity in your sentences when you use prounouns. If you are wondering when to use 'I,' 'you,' or 'he,' 'they,' etc., please see the What is Person? page of this chapter. There are two types of agreement that must be correct: agreement in person and agreement in number. Your pronouns must agree with the nouns that precede them (called the antecedents of the pronouns).One of the causes of this difficulty is understanding the use of pronouns in gender-neutral or gender-specific situations (see the Using Gender-Fair or Neutral Language page if this is your concern). The correct use of pronouns is a problem for many writers. Return to GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION HELP Table of Contents.

What is the pronoun