Antecedents of Pronouns and Dangling Construction

ANTECEDENTS OF PRONOUNS

The word "antecedent" means something that precedes something else. In language, it is the word that a pronoun refers back to. Since the pronoun replaces the noun, it has to agree in number. So, if the antecedent, or word that comes before, is singular, then the pronoun that takes its place must also be singular. It can be confusing if there are several words between the pronoun and its antecedent. These words or clauses have no bearing on the words and they need to be ignored. Following are some special situations with examples of the correct way to have pronoun antecedent agreement.

1.       Compound subjects can be a problem. If the subjects are joined by an "and" then the pronoun needs to be plural, as in "Christina and Joey took their books. If the subjects are joined by "or" or "nor", then have the pronoun agree with the subject that is closer, or closest, to the pronoun. An example is "Either the actor or the singers messed up their performance.

2.       If the pronoun is referring to one thing or a unit, like a team or a jury, then the pronoun needs to be singular. An example is: "The jury has reached its verdict." Sometimes words sound plural and are not, like measles or the news. These would need a singular pronoun, as in: "Measles is not as widespread as it once was." This makes sense if you replace the word "measles" with "disease."

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS THAT ARE ANTECEDENTS

There are several rules concerning the use of indefinite pronouns as antecedents and the pronoun antecedent agreement. The following indefinite pronouns are singular and need a singular pronoun: one, no one, some one, everyone, anyone, nobody, anybody, somebody, everybody, nothing, anything, something, everything, each, either, neither. An example is "Everything here has its own box."

The plural indefinite pronouns: several, both, few, and many, need to have a plural pronoun, like in this sentence: "Several are there because of their looks."

Lastly, if there is an indefinite pronoun that is being modified by a prepositional phrase, then the object of the phrase will determine the agreement between the pronoun and its antecedent. These special indefinite pronouns are: some, most, all, any, or none. Look at these two sentences: "Most of the flour fell out of its canister" and "Many of the gems have lost their shine". If the object, like "flour" is uncountable, then the pronoun has to be singular (its). If the object is countable, like "gems", then the pronoun needs to be plural (their).

The examples of antecedents pronouns:

1.       A man who follow my account is my ex boyfriend (antecendent: A man, My ex boyfriend)

2.       I buy a new book and bring it to the campus (antecendent: A new book, It)

3.       I don’t like this song , it is so bad (antecendent: This song, It)

DANGLING CONSTRUCTION

Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that add description. In clear, logical sentences, It is often found right next to-either in front of or behind-the target words they logically describe.

Dangling modifiers are errors. Their poor construction confuses readers

Dangling construction example:

·         Hungry, the leftover pizza was devoured.  
·         Hungry is a single-word adjective Notce that theres no one in the sentence for this modifier to describe.  
·        Fixing a dangling modifer will require more than raarrarging the words in the santence something now is ofen noed to be addad so that the modiien inally has a target wcrd to describe.
·        Hungry, we devoured the leftover pizza.

·         While running, my shoe lost its heel. (I couldn't slow that shoe down!)

·         To avoid extinction, researchers hope to breed in captivity

·         After taking a three-month bicycle trip through Montana, my dog was happy to see me

·         After reading the book, the movie is going to be great

·         Wrapped in wax paper, the picnickers couldn't see if the sandwiches were tuna or egg salad

·         Rolling down the hill, Larry saw an avalance of rocks approaching

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