Sentence Agreement

Grammar-Quizzes
 Pronoun Agreement with Quantifier Phrases Framed | Unframed

 

 

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Singular & Plural Indefinite Pronouns

  • When an indefinite pronoun refers to itself and is a single person or item, a singular pronoun is used.
  • When an indefinite pronoun refers to itself and to more than one person or item, a plural pronoun is used.

 

 fisherman 2fisherman 3
SINGULAR QUANTIFIER PLURAL QUANTIFIERS
Every fisherman has his pole. All of              the fishermen fry their (own) fish for dinner.
Each fisherman has his hat on. Some of        us invite our wives on trips.
One of the fishermen caught her first fish. Half of           you catch your "limit".
Each of the fishermen brought his own lunch. Ten percent the fish have old hook marks on their mouths.
Everyone of you has your pole ready.               note None of         the fish had eggs in their bodies.
None of the fish had eggs in its body.  *may use singular or plural verb A number of the fishermen were proud of their catches.
   arrow points to  possessive pronoun                           arrow points to  possessive pronoun

 

 

An indefinite pronoun may refer to nouns other than itself.

Everyone took my bag of chips.
Each of the fishermen took our cookies.

 

"Everyone's" Problem - Gender Neutral Phrasing

Objections to 'gender preference' in our English language has affected pronoun choice. Many speakers feel awkard choosing a masculine pronoun to refer to both genders..

PROBLEM  OPTIONS

Everyone had their hat.
The pronoun and noun do not agree in number.

Everyone had his hat.  Use "his" for both genders - formal but awkward.
Everyone had her hat.   Specifiy gender for all females.
Everyone had their hatsUse plural form to be gender neutral (neither masculine nor femine) and the plural noun form - informal to formal use.
 

Everyone must file his income tax by April 15.
Only men have to file their taxes?
Everyone must file his or her income tax by April 15.
Conventions are formed with time and this one is not decided yet.

 

 

 

Practice

 

Choose the pronouns that best complete(s) the sentence. An asterisk * indicates an incorrect choice.

 

1.  Have you taken ____ bath today?
 
a.   bathtub
b.   
c.    
d.      

 

2. All of us had to take ___ baths at night.  
 

 

3. Most of us wanted to take ___ later in the evening.

 
 
 
 
 

 

4.  None of the children forgot ___ towel.

man playing with rubber ducky

 

5.  Anyone could take ___ time and lock the bathroom door.

 

 

6. Some of us forgot to brush ___ teeth.

brush teeth

 

 

 

 

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Julie Sevastopoulos -   College of San Mateo - San Mateo, CA 94402 USA