Plural Pronoun Usage

Before you get information on plural pronoun usage, you need to understand the different types of pronouns and the way they are used in sentences.

Pronoun Functions

The word “pronoun” comes from the Latin “pronomen” with “pro” meaning “in place of” and “nomen” meaning “noun, name.” A pronoun is a substitute for a noun. Our language would be too repetitive if you kept repeating a noun, so pronouns break up that repetition. Here are brief explanations of the kinds of pronouns and their usage. 

• Demonstrative pronouns are: these, those, this, that, and such. They put the focus on the word they are replacing.
• When asking a question, an interrogative pronoun is used. These are: who, whoever, whom, whomever, what, whatever, which, and whichever.
• Pronouns that refer to nothing in particular, but nouns in general, are indefinite. Some examples are: many, all, few, other, some, nothing, everyone, and anybody.
• Personal pronouns that show possession are called possessive pronouns.  They are: its, mine, his, hers, yours, ours, and theirs.
• Some personal pronouns are the subject of a clause or sentence. These are I, he, she, it, you, we, and they.
• Other personal pronouns are objects of infinitives, verbs, and prepositions.  The list is: me, him, her, it, you, them, and us.      
• Relative pronouns connect a clause to a noun or pronoun. They are: who, whoever, whom, whomever, which, whichever, whose, and that.
• Some pronouns reflect back on a subject. These are called reflexive pronouns and are: myself, himself, herself, yourself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. 
• The preceding reflexive pronouns can also be intensive pronouns. These emphasize the noun or pronoun that comes right before them.

Plural Pronoun Usage

Subjects and verbs have to agree according to whether they are singular or plural. The same is true of pronouns that act as subjects. Following are guides of plural pronoun usage according to the types of pronouns:

• Demonstrative: these, those  
• Interrogative: who, whom, whose, what, which
• Indefinite: both, few, fewer, many, others, several
• Possessive: our, your, their, yours, yours, theirs
• Subject: we, you, they
• Object: us, you, them
• Relative: who, whoever, whom, whomever, which, whichever, whose, that.
• Reflexive and intensive: ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Antecedent Pronoun Agreement

Now that you understand plural pronoun usage, you need to add to that knowledge how to make antecedents and pronouns agree. In some sentences, and even between two sentences, there is a pronoun that refers to a noun, pronoun, clause, or phrase that precedes it. The word, clause, or phrase that comes first is the antecedent and the pronoun has to agree with it.  

Sounds easy enough, but there are some troublesome words when making pronouns and antecedents agree. With compound subjects, the agreement depends on the word that joins them. If “and” is used, then the pronoun must be plural. An example is: “Sue and Mary took their dogs to the park.” Since “and” is used, the subject us plural and the pronoun must also be plural. However, if the words “or” or “nor” are used, then the subject closest to the pronouns determines the agreement. For example, “The cat or the dogs like their treats.”  Since “dogs” is plural, so is “their.”

Other problems can arise if there are several words or phrases between the pronoun and its antecedent. Sometimes, a pronoun’s antecedent is in the preceding sentence. In this case, just overlook the words between and that will help you determine the form needed.

Indefinite pronouns are the real troublemakers. These are singular and need singular pronouns: anyone, no one, everyone, someone, anybody, nobody, everybody, somebody, anything, everything, nothing, something, one, each, either, and neither. A word like “everyone” is treating people as a group, so it is singular. When using “either” or “neither”, it is one or the other, so you are looking at one at a time, so those two words are singular.  

When the antecedent is an indefinite pronoun (some, none, all, most, or any) that is followed by a prepositional phrase, agreement depends on the type of object. If the object is countable, the pronoun will be plural. Here is an example, “ Most of the pennies fell out of their wrapper.” “Pennies” is plural, so “their” is plural. If the object is uncountable (like sugar, butter, air, money, or furniture), the pronoun needs to be singular.