Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement: MDCAT English notes

The rule

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent (the noun it refers to) in number (singular/plural), person (first, second, third) and gender.

• The students handed in their assignments. (plural)
• The girl lost her pen. (singular, feminine)

Special cases

Collective nouns

Nouns like board, committee, team, jury, family take a singular pronoun (its) when the group acts as one unit, and a plural pronoun (their) when members act individually.

• The committee announced its decision. (one body)
• The committee argued among themselves. (members separately)

Indefinite pronouns

Always singular	Always plural	Singular or plural (depends on noun)
each, every, either, neither, everyone, someone, anybody, nobody	both, few, many, several	all, some, most, none, any

• Each of the boys has brought his book.
• All of the players forgot their jerseys; all of the milk lost its freshness.

Compound antecedents

• Joined by and: plural. Ali and Sara finished their work.
• Joined by or / nor: agree with the nearer one. Neither the teacher nor the students brought their books.

Pronoun case

Subject	Object	Possessive	Reflexive
I, we, he, she, they, who	me, us, him, her, them, whom	my, our, his, her, their, whose	myself, ourselves, themselves

• Who is a subject; whom is an object; whose shows possession. Test: replace with he/him. "Mr. Khan, who (he) they say is the best teacher" takes who, because they say is only an inserted phrase.
• After prepositions use the object form: between you and me.
• In comparisons, complete the sentence mentally: "She is taller than I (am)"; "It is nearer to them than (to) us".
• Reflexives need an antecedent in the same clause: "I hurt myself", never "ourself" or "Ali and myself went".

Worked examples

1. "Every doctor must renew ___ licence." Answer: his or her (singular antecedent).
2. "The jury gave ___ verdict." Answer: its.
3. "The woman ___ car was towed complained." Answer: whose.
4. "Either Hamid or his brothers will bring ___ cricket bat." Answer: their (nearer antecedent plural).

Common MDCAT traps

• A collective noun acting as one unit takes its, not their.
• "Whom they say is" is wrong: the pronoun is the subject of is.
• "Which" is for things, not people; use who/whose for people.
• "Ourself" and "theirselves" are not standard English.

Quick revision

• Pronouns agree in number, person and gender.
• Each, every, everyone are singular.
• Or/nor: agree with the nearer antecedent.
• Whose shows possession.
• Complete comparisons to choose the case.