English Grammar: Agreement of Pronouns

Agreement — Vague Antecedents

A pronoun should not have two possible antecedents in the same sentence. If it is not clear which of two nouns a pronoun refers to, there will be two possible interpretations of the sentence. Observe the two possible interpretations in the following illustration:

James told his friend that he had been elected president.

In this sentence, does the pronoun he refer to James or to friend? If the antecedent of the pronoun he is friend, the sentence means that James told his friend that he (the friend) had been elected president.

If the antecedent of the pronoun he is James, the sentence means that James told his friend that he (James) had been elected president.

The sentence might be rewritten in either of the two following ways, since we do not know which meaning the author intended:

James said to his friend, "You have been elected president."

James said to his friend, "I have been elected president."

Many of the errors that are made in the use of pronouns are caused by a lack of agreement between pronoun and antecedent. The pronoun should refer definitely to the noun which it represents. In the following sentence, to what does the pronoun it refer?

Your letter and your check arrived promptly, but we cannot ship it at present.

There is no antecedent for the pronoun it in the sentence. Neither the word letter nor the word check could be the antecedent. It probably refers to an order for goods which was included in the letter. If the word it refers to an order for goods, the sentence might be written as follows:

Your letter and your check arrived promptly, but at present we cannot ship the goods ordered.