Pronoun–Antecedent Agreement — Agreement & Concord
What Is It?
Pronoun–antecedent agreement matches a pronoun in number, person, and gender with the noun it replaces.
Canonical pattern: Antecedent → Pronoun (match features).
Why Use Pronoun–Antecedent Agreement?
- Cohesion – links ideas smoothly without confusion.
- Inclusivity – supports singular they for unknown gender.
- Debugging – reduces ambiguity in long troubleshooting docs.
- Accessibility – aids screen readers that track references.
When to Choose Pronoun–Antecedent Agreement
- Long tutorials with recurring objects (“the container… it”).
- Policy docs referring to roles (“Administrator… they”).
- Chatbot scripts maintaining conversational clarity.
Forming Pronoun‑Antecedent Sentences
| Context | Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Singular Person | User (sg) → they | A tester should update their suite. |
| Plural Object | Items (pl) → they | The logs reached their quota. |
| Company / Org | Org (sg) → it | Acme Corp. announced its roadmap. |
| Collective Noun (plural sense) | Team (pl) → they | The DevOps team fixed their pipeline. |
Tips for Writing with Pronoun–Antecedent Agreement
- Define the antecedent before first pronoun use.
- Default to singular they for human roles when gender is irrelevant.
- Repeat the noun if several antecedents compete in one sentence.
- Keep pronouns close to their nouns (< 2 sentences apart).
- Align person between doc persona and reader (“You” vs. “He/She”).
Exceptions & Nuances
Informal code comments often skip gender‑neutral forms (“he”)—update to they for modern style. Some legal templates still require he or she; follow client specs.