pronounantecedent

Pronoun antecedent refers to the noun phrase that a pronoun stands for or replaces in a sentence or discourse. The antecedent supplies the referent’s identity and, in many cases, its number and gender, guiding how the accompanying pronouns are formed and interpreted. In English, pronouns such as he, she, they, and it typically agree with their antecedents in number and, for gendered pronouns, in gender, and they often follow the antecedent in the sentence though not always.

Consider examples: "Maria spoke to Anna because she was unsettled." The pronoun "she" must have a single antecedent; depending on context, it could refer to Maria or to Anna, which can create ambiguity. "The committee decided it will vote today" treats "committee" as a singular antecedent; some style guides would prefer "The committee will vote today" or "The committee members will vote today" to avoid confusion. Indefinite or collective antecedents can complicate gender or number: "Someone left their umbrella" uses "their" to refer back to "someone."

In practice, clear antecedent choice improves readability; editors often advise replacing vague pronouns with explicit nouns when multiple potential antecedents exist. In linguistics and natural language processing, antecedent resolution is the task of linking each pronoun to its correct antecedent, using syntax, semantics, and discourse context.