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b4b2.htf
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1997-03-31
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188 lines
B4B2
Personal Pronoun with Indefinite Pronoun
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Consider the example below:
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Everybody in class brought
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his
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lunch on "bag day."
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When a personal pronoun (
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his
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) refers to an indefinite
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pronoun (
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Everybody
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) as its antecedent, the two pronouns
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must agree in number: singular indefinite pronouns take
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singular personal pronouns, plural indefinite pronouns take
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plural personal pronouns.
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Since indefinite pronouns (everyone, anyone, etc.) do not
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show gender (whereas personal pronouns do), agreement
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can sometimes be a problem:
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Everybody in class brought
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his
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lunch on "bag day."
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If everyone in class is not male, we may prefer the
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construction below.
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Everybody in class brought
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his or her
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lunch on
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"bag day."
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The construction above is awkward. In spoken English, we
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sometimes get around the problem by using (incorrectly) a
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plural personal pronoun:
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Everybody in class brought
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their
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lunch on "bag day."
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1
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Using
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their
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to mean
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his
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or
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her
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is considered incorrect. The
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best solution may be to reword the sentence using a noun
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rather than an indefinite pronoun:
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The students in class brought their lunches on
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"bag day."
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