Things that Give Writers Fits

Pronouns and Antecedents

Pronouns, used correctly, save English from a lot of confusion. But, when their antecedents are unclear, they can cause big problems.

So, it’s important that you know what an antecedent is. My experience tells me, however, that, for some strange reason, your high school English teacher probably didn’t stress that term. So here goes:

An antecedent is the word a pronoun replaces. For example, when I say, “I am annoyed at most high school English teachers in America because they do not teach the antecedent concept well.” we have two antecedents.

I = Don Cudd; and they = most high school English teachers in America.

Nice and clear right? Technically speaking, the sentence could also read “Don Cudd is annoyed at most high school English teachers in America because most high school English teachers in America do not teach the antecedent concept well.” But, then, that would be awkward and confusing, right? So, we replace some antecedents with pronouns.

Got it? Easy right?

Well, actually it’s not always that easy. This error is very common:

The college has decided to enforce their parking policy this year.

Do you see what’s wrong?

There’s an antecedent problem. It’s unclear who “their” is.

Yeah, yeah. I know. “Come on, dang it,” you’re saying, “Their stands for the college.”

Well, you’re right. And maybe this is a nitpicky point. But the reader can’t necessarily be sure that their is the college, because “their” is a plural pronoun and, in the sentences, there is just one college. So, to be absolutely clear about whose parking policy will be enforced, the sentence should say, “The college has decided to enforce its parking policy this year. Or, you could say, “The college’s officials have decided to enforce their parking policy this year.”

My example was, arguably, too petty. But, my guess is that, if you understand the problem in that sentence, you’ll probably avoid the dreaded antecedent issue overall. I made that example a tough one intentionally.

Now, the problem with this sentence should be obvious right way: Jane and Sue decided to decorate her hat.

Whose hat? If you asked three different people, you’d probably get three different answers. (And there’s only two people in the dang sentence!) If this sentence isn’t proceeded by something like, “Cheryl bought a hat and placed it on the table” the antecedent for “her” would be very much in question.

So, ya see, you have to make absolutely sure that the antecedent for every single pronoun you write is absolutely clear.