Pronoun Agreement | Effective Writing Practices Tutorial | Northern Illinois University (2024)

FAQs

Is Anne and myself correct? ›

Personal and reflexive pronouns (I, me, myself) Incorrect: The teacher asked Anne and myself to do a peer review of each other's writing. Here, the pronoun myself is used incorrectly.

Rule #4: Treat collective nouns as singular unless the meaning is clearly plural.

To help students understand pronoun-antecedent agreement, it may help to have them label various antecedents with appropriate pronouns. You can do this by physically labeling people and objects around the classroom with pronouns.

Pronouns should agree in number, person, and gender with their antecedents. If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun should be singular. If the antecedent is plural, the pronoun should be plural.

Use "I" when it is the subject of a sentence and use "me" when it is the object of a verb or preposition. Sometimes it can be easier to hear which one is correct if you simplify the sentence: Dad asked John and I/me to tidy the room.

You should never use myself and John or John and myself. Both phrases are grammatically incorrect. Instead, use John and me if the speaker is the object of the sentence, and use John and I if the speaker is the subject of the sentence.

Pronoun Agreement Errors. Pronoun agreement errors can occur when the pronoun you are using to “stand in” for a noun does not agree with that noun in number, place, or gender. Clara needs to pick up her book. Using the singular pronoun her does agree with Clara.

Pronouns and their antecedents must agree in number; for example: “Someone would go see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre because they love horror movies” is incorrect because the antecedent “someone” is singular, while the pronoun “they” is plural. In order to replace “someone,” we need a singular pronoun, “he” or “she.”

The general rule for pronoun agreement is straightforward: A single antecedent requires a singular pronoun; a plural antecedent needs a plural pronoun.

Rule to Remember

Pronouns must agree in number, in gender, and person with their antecedents. Additionally, pronouns should also agree with the antecendent in number, gender, and person.

What is an example of a pronoun agreement? ›

Teaching Pronouns in Short Phrases

Place the boy and girl in front of the child. Hold up one object and say “who wants the ____?”. Help the child choose if he wants the boy to have it or the girl. Then, help the child say “he does” or “she does”.

The pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number. Rule: A singular pronoun must replace a singular noun; a plural pronoun must replace a plural noun.

Reflexive pronouns

A reflexive pronoun cannot replace the subject of a sentence, such as in "Burcu and myself are taking that class together." Instead, use a personal pronoun: "Burcu and I are taking that class together" or "Burcu and I myself are taking that class together."

If you want to refer to yourself and another person (or several other people) as the subject(s) of the sentence—the people completing an action—you should use "I". It gets easier with examples: Correct: Jane and I went to the store to get more groceries.

If you are using the subject form, “Sally and I” is correct. If you are using the object form, “Sally and me” is correct. For example, “Sally and I went to the cinema”, and “He gave presents to Sally and me” would be correct.

Sam and I would be used in a subject position, wherever you would use I, we, he, she, or they. Sam and me would be used as an object, wherever you would use me, us, him, or them. Sam and I played tennis almost until sunset. We had to suspend our tennis game when Sam and I could no longer see each other.

“Mary and myself went to see The Lion King last Friday.” “Myself went to see The Lion King last Friday.” It doesn't sound right in that second sentence, does it? The correct sentence should read as follows: “Mary and I went to see The Lion King last Friday.”