{"id":9856,"date":"2015-07-31T12:17:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-31T19:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-crowdcontent.com\/?p=9856"},"modified":"2021-04-28T08:04:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T15:04:11","slug":"noun-pronoun-agreement-singular-and-plural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdcontent.com\/resources\/writer\/university\/grammar\/noun-pronoun-agreement-singular-and-plural\/","title":{"rendered":"Noun-Pronoun Agreement Singular and Plural"},"content":{"rendered":"

Noun-Pronoun Agreement Singular and Plural<\/h2>\n

In the parts of speech<\/a> lesson, you learned that a pronoun replaces a noun. Sometimes a pronoun won\u2019t have a noun that it refers to, like the \u201cyou\u201d in the previous sentence. More often, though, a pronoun will have an antecedent: a noun that it\u2019s replacing. In the following examples, the antecedent is bolded and the pronoun is underlined.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong> Ariel<\/b> is usually optimistic, but she<\/span>\u2019s very upset today.<\/em><\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong> When they<\/span> arrived \u00a0in Los Angeles, the Smiths<\/b> had trouble clearing customs, so they were at the airport for four hours.<\/em><\/p>\n

Singular Nouns and Pronouns<\/h3>\n

The first example sentence shows a singular noun and it\u2019s corresponding singular pronoun. Singular means one.<\/p>\n

Here are some singular nouns: banana, radio, Claire, harmonica<\/em><\/p>\n

Here are some singular pronouns: I, you, she, its, this, himself, who<\/em><\/p>\n

When you use a singular noun, you can only use a singular pronoun <\/b>(not a plural one).<\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong> Reginald<\/b> wanted to try throwing the ball himself.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong> The kitten<\/b> is huge for its<\/span> age.<\/em><\/p>\n

Plural Nouns and Pronouns<\/h3>\n

As you might expect, when you use a plural noun, you can only use a plural pronoun <\/b>(not a singular one). Plural means more than one.<\/p>\n

Here are some plural nouns: cars, dandelions, cookies, tweets<\/p>\n

Here are some plural pronouns: they, us, you, those, who<\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong> The tightrope walkers<\/b> were up so high that I was afraid they<\/span> would fall.<\/em><\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong> Jack\u2019s friends<\/b>, who<\/span> also play is his band, were at the party.<\/em><\/p>\n

Is \u201cThey\u201d Okay?<\/h3>\n

English has three third-person singular pronouns: he for males, she for females, and it for things. What English doesn\u2019t have is a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun. Consider the following two sentences.<\/p>\n

Example: Nadia<\/b> lost her<\/span> keys at the store today.<\/em><\/p>\n

Example: Someone<\/b> lost ___ keys at the store today.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first sentence is correct because \u201cNadia\u201d and \u201cher\u201d agree in number (singular) and gender (feminine). But what should replace the blank space in the second sentence? Here are some options:<\/p>\n