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Antecedents are nouns or noun phrases that refer to the pronoun. If you are eager to learn them or know more about them, read this.
What Are Antecedents?
An antecedent is a word, phrase, or clause that is replaced by a pronoun in a sentence. The antecedent is the noun or noun phrase that the pronoun refers to and replaces.
Antecedents: Types
'Antecedents' can be singular or plural, common or proper, and countable or uncountable nouns. In other words, any category that exists for a noun applies to an antecedent as well. For example:
Here, 'himself' refers back to 'Marco'; thus, Marco is the antecedent.
The
Agreement of Antecedents and Pronouns
The pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender, number, and person. So keep in mind that you cannot use a singular pronoun with a plural antecedent or vice versa. Check out the examples:
The
'cat' as the antecedent
What about Possessive Determiners?
When using antecedents in a sentence, the possessive determiners that refer to the antecedents must agree with them as well. For example:
The boy used
Harry and I booked
Vague Pronouns with No Antecedents
When using pronouns in a sentence, it is important to avoid using them vaguely without a clear antecedent. However, in some cases, the antecedent may be absent, but the context of the sentence can help the reader or listener understand what the pronoun is referring to. Look at the examples.
Call
Here, if we did not specify who 'them' is referring to in advance, the listener gets confused.
Antecedents with Different Types of Pronouns
Now let us look at different types of pronouns and their antecedents with some examples:
I have talked to Jimmy.
The chair was old, but
The dog broke the glass
Alex opened the email
Where is the bag
Hanna is the girl
Sara and Sam love
Hanna! Look at the dog next to
Antecedents and Demonstrative Pronouns
A demonstrative pronoun can refer back to a noun or noun phrase which is the antecedent. Check out the examples for more clarification.
He drives very well, I like to be like
Maria is rude I can not bear
Review
Antecedents are words that refer back to the pronoun. Remember, antecedents can be nouns or noun phrases. Antecedents and pronouns have to agree on number, gender, case, etc.
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