What is a pronoun?

A pronoun is the word that takes the place of a noun or another pronoun.

Examples of Pronouns:

MASCULINE: he, him, his, himself

FEMININE: she, her, hers, herself

NEUTRAL: it, its, itself

PLURAL: they, them, their, theirs,

themselves

What is an antecedent?

• An antecedent is the word that the pronoun is referring to (usually earlier in the sentence).

Example:

Oprah sold her bike to buy in-line skates. Antecedent Pronoun

We always want pronouns to agree with their antecedents in both NUMBER and GENDER.

ANTECEDENTS

TO LOOK OUT FOR

WARNING

• Anybody • Anyone • Each • Neither • Everybody • Everyone

• Nobody • Either • No one • One • Somebody • Someone

• Everybody has their own way of studying. • Anyone could forget their homework. • Neither Jim nor Frank took their case to court. • Everybody who is going to the movie needs to

bring their money. • Either Mom or Lucy will volunteer their time.

• Reflexive pronouns are those that refer directly back to the subject of the sentence. We use reflexive pronouns for emphasis.

Examples of REFLEXIVE Pronouns:

Myself, ourselves, yourself, himself, herself, itself, themselves

1. Dr. Phil spilled grape juice all over himself.

2. Oprah tried to clean his white shirt by herself, but she needed something stronger.

Dr. Phil and Oprah offered to go to the grocery store by themselves to get bleach.

The store itself was stocked with hundreds of other cleaning supplies, but ironically the bleach was sold outside.