What does agreement in number mean?
Agreement in number means that a pronoun must match its antecedent in number. If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun should also be singular. If it’s plural, the pronoun should be plural too.
An antecedent is the noun that a pronoun replaces in a sentence.
Example:
“Lita bought her own house.”
Without using a pronoun, the sentence would be:
“Lita bought Lita’s own house.”
This sounds repetitive and awkward. Pronouns help avoid repetition and make sentences smoother.
In the example, the noun Lita is replaced by the pronoun her, so Lita is the antecedent.
Lita is one person, so the antecedent is singular. She’s also female, so the pronoun should be singular and feminine. That’s why we use her.
More examples:
The students are making their projects.
Alice is smart. She is a top student.
Greg is looking for his bag.
Teachers are attending their monthly seminar.
Note:
Singular female antecedent = singular feminine pronoun
Singular male antecedent = singular masculine pronoun
Plural antecedent = plural pronoun
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