Using Pronouns with Clear Antecedents and Correct Agreement

Welcome back. In the previous lesson, you practiced maintaining a clear timeline through consistent verb tense. Now we return to another essential editing skill: making references clear.

Pronouns such as she, it, they, them, this, and which prevent repetitive writing, but they can also make a sentence confusing if the reader cannot tell whom or what the pronoun represents. In health-related writing, precision matters: a reader should never have to guess whether they means patients, researchers, or students, or whether it means a medication, a symptom, or a treatment plan.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to identify an antecedent, match a pronoun to it appropriately, maintain a consistent point of view, and revise vague pronouns into clear language. Plan on about 40 minutes.

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Pronouns and antecedents: the basic relationship

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. The noun or noun phrase that the pronoun represents is its antecedent.

Janet says she is allergic to celery.
Janet is the antecedent of she.

Venus is unusual because it rotates clockwise.
Venus is the antecedent of it.

Pronouns make sentences smoother:

Repetitive: The dietitian explained that the dietitian would email the dietitian’s recommendations to the patient.
Clear: The dietitian explained that she would email her recommendations to the patient.

In the second sentence, both pronouns clearly refer to the dietitian. A reader can identify the intended person immediately.

Watch Khan Academy’s short explanation of “Grammatical person and pronouns.” It will help you distinguish first, second, and third person, which is important when you edit for consistent point of view.

The three persons

Person	Refers to	Common pronouns
First person	The writer or speaker	I, me, my, we, us, our
Second person	The reader or listener	you, your
Third person	Someone or something else	he, she, they, it, him, her, them, their

Most academic writing uses third person when making general claims:

Students benefit when they review notes soon after class.

A common point-of-view error begins with a third-person noun but changes to you:

Unclear: When a student starts a food record, you should include beverages.
Clear: When students start food records, they should include beverages.
Also clear: When starting a food record, include beverages.

The revision keeps the sentence in one “lane”: it either discusses students in third person or directly addresses the reader in second person.

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Agreement: match the pronoun to its antecedent

Pronoun–antecedent agreement means that the pronoun fits the antecedent in number and, when relevant, meaning and identity.

The first step is the same one you used for subject–verb agreement: locate the real head noun, not a nearby word inside a phrase.

The cells in the tissue sample released their contents.
The sample of cells retained its color.

In the first sentence, cells is plural, so their is plural. In the second, the head noun is sample, which is singular, so its is singular.

Singular and plural antecedents

Antecedent	Appropriate reference	Example
one patient	singular pronoun	The patient described her symptoms.
several patients	plural pronoun	The patients described their symptoms.
one medication	singular pronoun	The medication has passed its expiration date.
several medications	plural pronoun	The medications have passed their expiration dates.

Singular they

Contemporary standard English recognizes singular they/them/their. It may refer to one person whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or not specified, and it is the appropriate choice for a person who uses they/them pronouns.

A student should bring their anatomy lab manual.
Jordan said they would submit the revised paragraph tomorrow.

This usage often makes a sentence clearer and less awkward than he or she. It also avoids assuming a person’s gender.

If an instructor supplies a style guide for a particular assignment, follow it. In most current college writing, however, you should not automatically treat singular they as an error. When a sentence becomes awkward, another strong option is to pluralize the antecedent:

More cumbersome: Each participant should record his or her meals.
Smooth revision: Participants should record their meals.

Tricky antecedents

Some nouns look plural because they describe groups, but they are grammatically singular when the group acts as one unit.

The class submitted its lab report.
The committee announced its decision.
The research team revised its proposal.

If you mean the individual members rather than the group as one unit, name those members:

The class members submitted their individual reflections.
The researchers revised their sections of the proposal.

Compound antecedents joined by and are usually plural:

The nurse and the patient discussed their concerns.

Words such as each, everyone, someone, anybody, and no one refer to one person at a time, even though their meaning may seem broad:

Everyone should bring their questions to class.
Each participant should review their consent form.

The pronoun their is an accepted singular-they choice in these examples. If clarity is especially important, pluralizing can make the sentence even more direct:

Participants should review their consent forms.

Read Purdue OWL’s “Using Pronouns Clearly.” The page brings together the three problems you should check while editing: agreement in number, consistency in person, and clear reference.

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Clear reference: make the intended antecedent unmistakable

Agreement alone is not enough. A pronoun can match more than one noun and still confuse the reader.

Ambiguous: After the nurse spoke with the patient, she documented the symptoms.

Both nurse and patient could be she. The sentence is grammatically possible, but its meaning is uncertain.

Clear: After the nurse spoke with the patient, the nurse documented the symptoms.
Also clear: After the nurse spoke with the patient, the patient documented her symptoms.

Repeating a noun is not poor writing when it prevents confusion. Clarity comes before variety.

Three common reference problems

1. An ambiguous pronoun

An ambiguous pronoun could refer to two or more possible antecedents.

Ambiguous: The nutritionist reviewed the meal plan with the client before she changed it.

Who changed the plan: the nutritionist or the client?

Clear: The nutritionist reviewed the meal plan with the client before the nutritionist changed it.
Clear: After reviewing the meal plan with the nutritionist, the client changed it.

The revisions do more than replace a pronoun. They make the action and actor unmistakable.

2. A vague pronoun

A vague pronoun does not point to a specific noun at all.

Vague: The clinic reduced wait times, and this improved patient satisfaction.

The reader can probably infer that this means “reducing wait times,” but a more exact noun phrase is better.

Clear: The clinic reduced wait times, and the shorter waits improved patient satisfaction.

Words such as this, that, it, and which deserve special attention. They are not always wrong, but they should answer the reader’s silent question: What exactly does this refer to?

Vague: The students compared their results. This showed that sleep mattered.
Clear: The comparison of the students’ results showed that sleep mattered.

3. A distant antecedent

A reader may lose track of an antecedent when too many words or ideas intervene.

Hard to follow: The anatomy instructor described the respiratory system, assigned a diagram, answered several questions about alveoli, and explained why it was important.

Does it mean the respiratory system, the diagram, the questions, alveoli, or the explanation?

Clear: The anatomy instructor explained why understanding the respiratory system was important.

In a long sentence or paragraph, repeat the key noun rather than making the reader search backward.

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Edit pronouns systematically

When you proofread a paragraph, do not rely only on whether it “sounds right.” Use a deliberate check.

1. Underline every pronoun. Look especially for he, she, it, they, them, their, this, that, and which.
2. Identify the intended antecedent. Write the noun above the pronoun if necessary.
3. Check number and meaning. Is the antecedent singular or plural? Does the selected pronoun fit the person or thing being discussed?
4. Check point of view. Does the paragraph remain in first, second, or third person when discussing the same group?
5. Test clarity. Could a reader reasonably choose a different antecedent?
6. Revise when needed. Repeat the noun, move the pronoun closer, pluralize the sentence, or rewrite it more directly.

Consider this draft from a nutrition-group assignment:

Each student in the nutrition group should record their meals for three days. When the group meets, they will compare the entries. This will help them improve it.

The first sentence is clear: their refers to each individual student through singular they. The next two sentences create trouble:

• They could mean the group as a unit or the individual students.
• This could mean the meeting, the comparison, or the food records.
• It has no clear noun to represent.

A clearer revision is:

Each student in the nutrition group should record their meals for three days. At the meeting, group members will compare the food records. Comparing the records will help the students identify one change to their meal plans.

This revision repeats a few nouns, but it eliminates every guesswork problem. In college writing, especially in explanations of health behavior, procedures, or research findings, that precision is worth the small amount of repetition.

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Key takeaways

A pronoun is useful only when readers can connect it quickly and confidently to its antecedent.

• An antecedent is the noun or noun phrase represented by a pronoun.
• Pronouns should agree with their antecedents in number and should fit the intended meaning.
• Singular they is an accepted option for one person, including a person whose gender is unknown or who uses they/them pronouns.
• Keep grammatical person consistent: do not shift from a student to you without a reason.
• Avoid ambiguous, vague, and distant pronoun references by naming the person, object, action, or idea directly.
• During proofreading, identify each pronoun’s antecedent instead of assuming the reference is clear.

Next, you will focus on commas in several high-frequency sentence patterns. That lesson will help you make sentence boundaries and relationships visible to your reader.