Fixing Possessive Pronoun Confusion: His, Her, Whose, and Their Agreement

Possessive pronouns must match the noun they refer to in number and gender: singular nouns use his/her/its; plural nouns use their; unknown gender uses their (modern standard). Agreement errors occur when the wrong possessive pronoun is paired with a noun, creating gender or number mismatches. Example error: "Each student submitted their homework" (their is plural, but "each student" is singular; use "his or her" or singular they depending on context).

Whose (possessive form of who) also requires agreement with its noun: "I spoke with the artist whose work won the award." (whose matches the singular noun "artist.") "I spoke with the artists whose work won the award." (whose remains the same because it is possessive, not inflected for number).

Example 1: "Sarah submitted her project." (Her matches singular "Sarah.") Example 2: "The students submitted their projects." (Their matches plural "students.") Example 3: "The organization, whose mission is service, was founded in 1992." (Whose matches singular "organization.") Each example shows how the possessive pronoun agrees with its noun in number.

An error version: "Each manager must review their direct reports' performance." Context: "each manager" is singular. Correct: "Each manager must review his or her direct reports' performance." The mismatch between singular "each manager" and plural "their" is the error.

Practice 12 sentences daily for four days, alternating between singular (his/her/its) and plural (their) possessive pronouns. Identify the noun first, then choose the matching possessive. This habit of identifying the noun BEFORE selecting the pronoun prevents agreement errors.

After four days, test yourself on 20 mixed sentences with no time limit. Aim for 100% accuracy. Then time yourself on the same 20 sentences: aim for under 2 minutes while maintaining accuracy.

SAT writing questions disguise agreement errors by using complex sentence structures. Focus on identifying the noun the possessive refers to, not the nearest noun in the sentence. The nearest noun and the correct noun are sometimes different; this distance creates traps. Example: "The president of the club announced his goal" (not "their" even though "club" is close to "his"; "president" is the noun requiring the possessive).

On test day, when you see a possessive pronoun, ask "What noun does it refer to?" Then verify agreement. This one habit prevents the majority of possessive pronoun errors on the SAT.