Pronouns

DEAR ABBY (Abigail Van Buren) on PRONOUN ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT

Dear Abby:

I protest the use of the pronoun "He" or "him" when referring to people in general. An example from one of your columns: Don't ever tell a child that HE is bad. If HE misbehaves, tell HIM you don't like what HE did; don't tell HIM you don't like HIM.

The child could have been a boy or a girl, right? But by using only the male pronoun, it implies that males are of primary importance-another blow to the female's self-esteem.

After all, how hard is it to write or say, "she/he" or "his/hers" or "him/her"?

Faithful Reader

Dear Faithful Reader:

The rule of grammar you speak of, which is to use the masculine pronoun when it applies to both male and female, was NOT devised to put down women. And it is not likely to be changed in the interest of women's rights. Writing "he/she" and "him/her" IS a time-waster, and I, for one, would find it extremely burdensome.

Anyone who tried to follow "Faithful Reader's well-meaning but wrong-headed attempt to eliminate "sexist language" would end up writing terrible, clunky prose, so don't do it. Instead, choose either the female pronoun or the male pronoun. I don't care. But, I repeat, avoid the "he/she" construction (worse still "he or she"; him/her; his/hers construction unless you want to annoy your reader.

Now, please read my lecture on Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement below. It is a kind of companion lesson to Subject-Verb Agreement, which we looked at last week.  

Pronouns: agreement. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number (singular or plural) and gender(masculine, feminine, or neuter). The antecedent of a pronoun is the word or words to which the pronoun refers. For example, in the sentence Jason lost his book, the pronoun his refers to the antecedent Jason. Another example is Jason could not find his book. He had lost it. In the second sentence there are two pronouns--he and it. The antecedent of "he" is Jason and the antecedent of “it” is book. With the exception of constructions such as “it is nearly eight o'clock”, in which “it” has no anteced­ent, all pronouns should have antecedents.

A.  Gender. If the gender of a singular antecedent is unknown or general, as in student, for example, then the antecedent is treated as if it were mas­culine. (This usage has come under attack in recent years and has begun to fade. The charge of conscious or unconscious sexism is difficult to refute, and sentences can usually be rephrased easily.)

 ANTECEDENT                                 PRONOUN

The boy lost                                          his book.

The girl lost                                           her book.

The briefcase lost                                  its handle.

The student lost                                    his book.

The students lost                                   their books.

 B. Number. Most pronoun agreement errors occur when the pronoun does not agree with its antecedent in number. If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must be singular; if the antecedent is plural, the pronoun must be plural.

 Indefinite pronouns. Words like anybody, somebody, everybody, no­body, and each are always singular. Others like few and many are always plural. Indefinite pronouns such as all, any, most, and more can be either singular or plural, depending on the object of the preposition which follows them: All of my concern is justified; but, All of my concerns are justified.

 INCORRECT:

Somebody lost their books.

No one turns their paper in on time.

 CORRECT:

Somebody lost his books.

No one turns his paper in on time.

 2. Collective nouns. Some singular nouns refer to more than one thing: group, youth, family, jury, and audience, for example. If the noun acts as a unit, it takes a singular pronoun. If the individuals within the unit act separately, the noun takes a plural pronoun.

The jury reached its decision.

The jury [members] divided bitterly on their decision.

The audience rose to its feet to show its approval.

The audience stayed in their seats through the entire first act.

 3. Antecedents joined by either . . . or and neither . . . nor.

When two antecedents are joined by either . . . or or neither . . . nor, the pro­noun agrees with the antecedentcloser to it:

Either Ruby or Janet lost her album.

Either the mother or the daughters lost their albums.

Either the daughters or the mother lost her album.

Neither the boys nor the girls lost their albums.

 4. Compound antecedents. Except when the words function as a single unit—e.g., “Macaroni and cheese is my favorite dish; I make it often”—antecedents joined by and take a plural pronoun:

The owl and the pussycat shook their heads sadly.

 Test with answers:

Chapter 16_Mastering Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Alternative Mastery Test

Find and correct the 13 errors in the following sentences.  Wherever possible, avoid gender-biased language.

1.   Each applicant must present themselves to the receptionist 15 minutes before their scheduled interviews.

2.   Danni was looking forward to roller-blading along the seawall in Vancouver, but when she unpacked her bags, she found that she’d left them at home.

3.   “Every dog has his day” is an old saying that means everyone will get their chance if they are patient.

4.   My roommate has a sister that may be able to help me with my grammar problems.

5.   Josh and Susan kept the dogs happy by feeding them biscuits, but soon they were gone and they wished they had more.

6.   Here’s another potential customer that forgot to put their address on the order form!

7.   Jan defended Nancy when she appeared before the Student Disciplinary Committee, but she was very nervous.

8.   I much prefer watching movies at home than in a movie theatre, so when my parents bought a 54-inch wall-hung plasma one, I couldn’t believe my luck.

9.   If you lend someone $20 and never see them again, it was probably worth it.

10.               Anyone who doesn’t learn from their mistakes will eventually discover that they are making the same mistakes again and again.

ANSWERS TO 16.6 TEST

1.   All applicants must present themselves to the receptionist 15 minutes before their scheduled interviews.

2.   Danni was looking forward to roller-blading along the seawall in Vancouver, but when she unpacked her bags, she found that she’d left her roller blades at home.

3.   “Every dog has his day” is an old saying that means all will get their chance if they are patient.

4.   My roommate has a sister who may be able to help me with my grammar problems.

5.   Josh and Susan kept the dogs happy by feeding them biscuits, but soon the biscuits were gone and they wished they had more.

6.   Here’s another potential customer who forgot to put her (or his) address on the order form!

7.   Jan defended Nancy when Nancy appeared before the Student Disciplinary Committee, but Jan was very nervous.

8.   I much prefer watching movies at home than in a movie theatre, so when my parents bought a 54-inch wall-hung plasma television, I couldn’t believe my luck.

9.   If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, the experience was probably worth it.

10.                People who don’t learn from their mistakes will eventually discover that they are making the same mistakes again and again