Singular and Plural Pronoun Antecedents:

An antecedent is a word that appears early in a sentence or paragraph, one that later words may refer to or replace. Pronouns should have a noun or another pronoun that serves as their antecedent. For instance, in the following sentence, the noun carpenter is an antecedent for the pronoun his.
The carpenter needs his tools.

We could theoretically write, "The carpenter needs the carpenter's tools," but that creates a lot of clutter. The pronoun stands in the place of carpenter so we don't have to keep repeating the word. Since in this sentence the subject is a single carpenter, the pronoun must be singular to match the singular noun in the sentence above. The verb needs is a singular verb also, matching the number of the noun. However, if the sentence contained multiple carpenters, the plural antecedent would require a plural pronoun.
The seven carpenters need their tools.

Now, the antecedent carpenters is plural, so it must take a plural pronoun. The verb need is a plural verb here, also matching the number of the noun. The material above seems simple enough, but three tricky areas can cause problems. First, there are indefinite pronouns that do not refer a specific person or object--some of them are considered singular and others are considered plural. You can read about them here. Second, a writer can shift between pronouns. You can read about this problem here. Finally, a sloppy writer can confuse the reader by creating sentences in which it is unclear who or what the pronoun refers to. You can read about that problem here.

Tricky Indefinite Pronouns:

In most cases, it is clear whether a pronoun's antecedent is singular or plural. For instance, the word girls is plural, so it needs a plural pronoun like they or them ortheir. On the other hand, the word girl is singular, so it clearly needs a singular pronoun like she or her. But what about indefinite pronouns--such as all, any, both, each, every, few, many, neither, nobody, and none? They do not refer to a specific, definite person. Thus they are called "indefinite pronouns." The indefinite pronouns are a bit trickier than relative pronouns. To know which form to use (singular or plural), you need to memorize the following lists. The following pronouns are always singular grammatically, even though it might seem they should be plural:

each anybody somebody nobody everybody one anyone

everyone someone neither either nothing anything everything something

NOTE: A good rule of thumb to remember is that all the words ending in -one, -thing, and -body are singular. Thus, in formal grammar, we would write sentences such as "everyone took his book to class with him" or "everybody in the cheerleading squad took her gymbag with her to the game." The words ending in -one and -body must use a singular form, even though these words might seem to be plural when we think of "everybody in a crowd" or "everybody in Texas." Don't think of the word that way. Instead, think of it as being equivalent to "every single individual." For example, "Every single student tookhis book to class with him" is equivalent to "everyone took his book to class with him." Just as each single student is singular, everyone is also considered singular. Remember that these pronouns all use singular verbs. We write that, "Everybody is here." We don't write, "Everybody are here." Just as everybody uses a singular form of the verb, in the same way, it must use other singular pronouns in reference to itself when it is the antecedent in a sentence. The following sentences in red are incorrect grammatically: NO! WRONG! "Everyone took their book to class with them that day." The sentence should state, "Everyone took his book with him that day" or "Everyone took her book with her to class that day." NO! WRONG! "Nobody brought their homework, however." The sentence should state, "Nobody brought his homework" or "Nobody brought her homework." NO! WRONG! " Someone left their socks in the hallway." The sentence should state, "Somebody left her socks in the hallway" or "Somebody left his socks in the hallway."

On the Other Hand . . .

However, the following pronouns are always plural in grammatical usage:
o o o o o

both several few many all

These words all require plural pronouns (like they, them, and their) and they all use plural verbs.

For example, the following sentences in blue are punctuated correctly, but those sentences in red are incorrect grammatically: YES! CORRECT! Both of them are coming home tonight. NO! WRONG! Both of them is coming home tonight. YES! CORRECT! Several performances are scheduled for next week. NO! WRONG! Several performances is scheduled for next week. YES! CORRECT! All are guilty of transgression in their hearts. NO! WRONG! All is guilty of transgression in his heart. Click here to go back to the pronoun antecedent page.

Pronoun Shifts:
A pronoun shift is a grammatical error in which the author starts a sentence, paragraph, or section of a paper using one particular type of pronoun and then suddenly shifts to another. This often confuses the reader. The most common shift is from third person nouns and pronouns (he / she / it / they) to second person pronouns you / your / yours. However, some students switch between first person pronouns (I / we / me / us / my / our) to other pronouns halfway through a sentence or essay as well. Here are some examples of faulty sentences (in red) followed by examples of corrected sentences (in blue).
WRONG! INCORRECT! When we asked about Anglo-Saxon literature, we discovered you could learn to speak Old English in a few months if a teacher were available to instruct you.

In the faulty sentence, the word we undergoes a pronoun shift to you midway through the discussion.
CORRECTED VERSION: When we asked about Anglo-Saxon literature, we discovered we could learn to speak Old English in a few months if a teacher were available to instruct us.

In the corrected version, the writer maintains plural first person pronouns throughout the discussion.
WRONG! INCORRECT! If you eat sensibly and watch your caloric intake, most people should be able to maintain their desired weight. CORRECTED VERSION: If you eat sensibly and watch your caloric intake, you should be able to maintain your

desired weight. OR EVEN BETTER: If dieters eat sensibly and watch their caloric intake, they should be able to maintain their desired weight.

Sometimes, in an effort to be formal or scholarly, writers will use the indefinite pronoun one, as in "Nothing makes one appreciate life like a beefy burrito with one'ssalsa." Many readers find this diction unnatural or pretentious. Instead, take the word one and replace it with a specific plural noun of some sort. For instance, "Nothing makes hungry diners appreciate life like a beefy burrito with their salsa." This is an advantageous choice for two reasons. First, using a noun gives the writer a place to hang an adjective. It allows the author to use more description if she wants to. Second, using a plural noun means the writer avoids both awkward singular phrases like "his or her" or "his/her" and still avoids sexist language by inserting a their. This grammatical error is the first most common type of pronoun shift. The second most common type of shift is to switch between using singular pronouns at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph and plural pronouns at the end of a sentence of paragraph. This is called an error in pronoun antecedents or a shift in pronoun antecedents. If you want to review this, you can read about it here. You should also beware of those tricky pronouns which have an indefinite reference. These pronouns require grammarians to remember if they are singular or plural. You can read about them here. You can also click here to go back to the page on pronoun antecedents.

Unclear Pronoun Antecedents:

Note in the following sentence how unclear pronouns might refer to more than one antecedent, leaving the reader unsure of the writer's intended meaning. Lizzy told her mother that her sweater had a hole in it. In this red sentence above, who has the hole in her sweater? Is it Lizzy? Or her mother? The reader might become confused. The rule of thumb is that the pronoun refers to the the closest antecedent, in this case, the word mother. If the writer intends to indicate that Lizzy is the one whose sweater is ragged, the sentence needs rewriting. Lizzy told her mother, "My sweater has a hole in it." Or, if the writer intends the opposite meaning, she might write this version: Lizzy told her mother, "Your sweater has a hole in it."

Unclear pronouns are particularly dangerous with the pronoun it. The best way to fix the problem is to rephrase the sentence in a new way. However, if there is more than one possible antecedent, the result is ambiguous. When Alexander drove the car through the garage door, he badly damaged it. Did Alexander damage badly his car? Or the garage door? Cathy was surprised she had been voted president by her classmates who never had much self-confidence. Was Cathy surprised her classmates all voted for her because she herself had little self-confidence? Or was Cathy surprised because her classmates voted for her, even though they never had much self-confidence? The convention is that such pronouns refer to the closest noun or pronoun. One way to cure this problem is to move the who-clause so that is closer to what it modifies. For example, we might rewrite the sentence with Cathy this way: Cathy, who never had much self-confidence, was surprised she had been voted president by her classmates. Or, if we wish to emphasize that the classmates are the ones lacking confidence, we could try this way: Cathy was surprised she had been voted president by her classmates since they never had much selfconfidence. Click here to go back to the earlier pronoun usage page.