Pronoun disagreement is a grammatical error that occurs when the pronouns used in a sentence do not agree in number or gender with the nouns they are referring to. This error can be confusing to readers, and can even change the meaning of the sentence.
For example, consider the following sentence:
“The teacher gave their students homework.”
In this sentence, the pronoun “their” is plural, but the noun it is referring to, “teacher,” is singular. This creates a disagreement in number, and can be confusing to readers who are unsure whether the teacher or the students are being referred to.
To avoid pronoun disagreement, it is important to use pronouns that agree in number and gender with their corresponding nouns. For example, if the noun is singular, the pronoun should also be singular. If the noun is feminine, the pronoun should also be feminine.
To correct the example sentence above, we could write:
“The teacher gave his or her students homework.”
This sentence uses the pronoun “his or her” to avoid a disagreement in gender, and makes the pronoun singular to match the singular noun “teacher.”
Another common pronoun disagreement occurs with indefinite pronouns, such as “everyone” or “anybody.” These pronouns are singular, but often cause confusion when used with plural pronouns, as in the following example:
“Everyone has their own preferences.”
In this sentence, the pronoun “their” is plural, while the indefinite pronoun “everyone” is singular. To avoid this disagreement, we can rephrase the sentence:
“Everyone has his or her own preferences.”
This sentence uses the singular “his or her” pronoun to match the singular “everyone” noun.
By paying attention to pronoun agreement, writers can ensure that their writing is clear, concise, and easy to understand. By avoiding pronoun disagreement, writers can also help to create a professional and polished image for their work, and ensure that their writing is effective in communicating their message to their audience.