English Grammar: Agreement of Pronouns

Agreement — Pronoun and Antecedent in Gender

Since a pronoun stands for, or replaces a noun, it must agree with that noun in person, number, and gender. We have already considered the problems of number and person in Grammar Units Five and Six. In this unit we shall take up the problem of gender, and show its connection with the agreement of pronoun and antecedent.

In grammar gender means the classification of nouns and pronouns according to distinctions in sex. There are four genders: masculine gender, feminine gender, common gender, and neuter gender.

Masculine gender denotes the male sex. Feminine gender denotes the female sex. Common gender denotes either sex. Neuter gender denotes absence of sex. The following are examples of nouns and pronouns in the four genders:

Masculine gender — he, him, father, king

Feminine gender — sister, she, her, princess

Common gender — child, adult, cousin, neighbor

Neuter gender — table, book, dress, radio, it

Some nouns and a few pronouns have special forms to show gender. The following list shows the changes that occur in some words to indicate a change in the gender. Some of the distinctions formerly used to show gender are passing out of use. The words authoress and poetess, for example, are seldom used.

Special Forms to Show Gender