ACT English: Master Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement in 10 Minutes

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent (the noun it replaces) in (1) number: singular pronouns match singular nouns, plural pronouns match plural nouns. (2) Gender: male pronouns match male nouns, female pronouns match female nouns, neutral pronouns match neutral things. (3) Person: first-person pronouns (I, we) do not mix with third-person antecedents (he, she, they). Apply these three rules to every pronoun and you will catch agreement errors before you read the answer choices.

Example errors and fixes: "Every student brought their textbook." Error: "student" is singular, "their" is plural. Fix: "Every student brought his or her textbook." or "All students brought their textbooks." Second example: "The team celebrated its victory." Correct: "team" is a collective noun, "its" is singular possessive, they agree. Third example: "Either John or Mary lost her keys." Correct: Use the pronoun that matches the nearest antecedent (Mary), which is female, so "her" is right.

Trap 1: Collective nouns. "Group," "team," "audience" are grammatically singular but refer to multiple people. Use singular pronouns: "The group made its decision." Trap 2: Indefinite pronouns. "Each," "every," "someone," "nobody" are always singular: "Each person brought his or her own lunch." Trap 3: Compound antecedents with "or" or "nor." Use the pronoun that matches the nearer noun: "Either cats or a dog lost its collar." (Dog is nearer, singular.) These three traps appear frequently on ACT English, so memorize them as special cases.

Practice sentence: "Neither the coaches nor the athlete knew their strategy was flawed." Error: "athlete" is singular, "their" is plural. Fix: "Neither the coaches nor the athlete knew his strategy was flawed." (Pronoun matches "athlete," the nearer noun.)

Sentence 1: "The jury reached their verdict." Sentence 2: "Every employee must submit their timesheet by Friday." Sentence 3: "The committee voted on its proposal." Sentence 4: "If a student forgets their ID, they cannot enter the building." Sentence 5: "Neither Amy nor Tom brought his textbook." For each, (1) identify the antecedent, (2) check if the pronoun agrees in number, gender, and person, (3) rewrite the sentence if needed. Drill these five sentences daily for one week until agreement feels automatic.

Corrected sentences: 1) "The jury reached its verdict." 2) "Every employee must submit his or her timesheet." 3) "The committee voted on its proposal." (Correct.) 4) "If a student forgets his or her ID, he or she cannot enter." 5) "Neither Amy nor Tom brought his textbook." (Correct: "his" matches Tom, the nearer antecedent.)

Pronoun-antecedent agreement questions appear on every ACT English section and are worth 1 point each. Most students miss 2-3 of them because they do not apply the three rules systematically. Memorizing these rules and drilling them for one week will eliminate these errors entirely, adding 2-3 points to your English score with minimal effort.

Start today: Write out the three agreement rules on a card and review it every morning this week. By test day, you will spot agreement errors instantly.