ENG PRONOUN REFERENCE 1. Pronoun Reference errors A --ambiguous pronoun reference This is when a pronoun can refer grammatically to more than one antecedent. The teacher informed the student that he needed another test booklet. (who needed the test booklet?) Jane said that her mother became pregnant before she graduated from high school (was Jane's mother a child bride?) After Jack combed the horse's mane, it ran around the field. (What ran around the field, the horse or the mane?) B- Implied antecedent A pronoun's antecedent is only implied by the wording of the sentence. In the armed forces, they can retire at an early age. (Who are "they"?) C- noun/pronoun disagreement. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent both in number and case. The army won their most important battle. (army is singular and must take a singular possessive, not the plural "their".) The class came to the gym for their picture. ("class" is singular and requires a singular possessive) Everyone has their own reason for drinking. This is a problem that recurs everytime that you are attempting to write a sentence which avoids naming a specific sex. "everyone" (and someone, no one, each one) is singular which is obvious because it takes a singular verb "has"; therefore, it must take a singular possessive, "his" or "her". You could write the sentence so that it takes a plural possessive if you want a non-sexist sentence. For example, D- Correlatives "Either" and "neither" are called correlatives and each co-relates two things (usually). Be careful that the verb agrees with the subject that the correlative co-relates. Neither Fred nor John is driving. (not "are) Neither of the men drives a truck.