If the group members act in unison (all are essentially doing the same thing at the same time), then the collective noun is singular and requires singular pronouns for the match. For help avoiding gender bias when choosing pronouns, see Avoid bias. According to the APA`s style blog, „if transgender and gender non-conforming people (including agenres, genderqueers and other communities) use the singular `they` as a pronoun, authors should also use the singular `they` when writing about them“ (para. 1). (b) A female pronoun shall replace a female noun. The general rule for pairing pronouns is simple: a single precursor requires a singular pronoun; a plural prehistory requires a plural pronoun. Pronouns should match their predecessors in number, gender, and person. A common pronoun reference error occurs when students write about several different people or things and then later use a pronoun like them or him, but the audience has no idea what they are referring to. Here are some examples of pronouns that would suit some precursors: 1. Group nouns, which are considered individual units, adopt singular reference pronouns.
In the example above, the pronoun „es“ seems to refer to the neighboring noun sailboat. But the sentence makes no sense. The pronoun has no precursor. The plural pronouns they and them are logical choices for peak + mate and cheerleader + T twirling stick. Remember these three important points about the pronoun-precursor agreement if a group name is the precursor: the use of the singular pronoun is consistent with Clara. It`s not natural for a native speaker to say this: we don`t speak or write like that. Use a singular pronoun to refer to a collective or entity noun such as crowd or committee when the group or entity is considered a whole. 2. The pronoun that replaces the name must coincide in this way: not only the homemade sweet potato cake, but also the hand-picked flowers will win Briana`s heart with their thoughtfulness. (NOTE that you have two precursors, the homemade sweet potato cake and the hand-picked flowers…