English Language Arts
Grade 7
15 min
Identify pronouns and their antecedents
Identify pronouns and their antecedents
What you'll learn
- Identify pronouns (personal, possessive, reflexive, intensive, demonstrative, interrogative, and relative) in a given sentence with 80% accuracy.
- Match pronouns to their correct antecedents in a paragraph with at least 75% accuracy.
- Explain the relationship between a pronoun and its antecedent, using specific examples, in at least two out of three provided sentences.
- Correctly rewrite three sentences, replacing vague pronouns with their clear and specific antecedents to improve clarity.
Tutorial Preview
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Introduction & Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
Define 'pronoun' and 'antecedent' with 90% accuracy.
Identify various types of pronouns (personal, possessive, demonstrative, indefinite, relative) in sentences.
Locate the antecedent for a given pronoun within a sentence or short paragraph.
Explain the relationship between a pronoun and its antecedent, including agreement in number and gender.
Correct sentences where a pronoun's antecedent is unclear or missing.
Use pronouns and their antecedents correctly in their own writing to improve clarity and avoid repetition.
Ever wonder how we avoid repeating the same noun over and over again in our writing? 🤔 Pronouns are like linguistic shortcuts that make our sentences smoother and more engaging!
In this lesson, you'll learn wh...
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Key Concepts & Vocabulary
TermDefinitionExample
PronounA word that takes the place of a noun or another pronoun to avoid repetition.Instead of 'Maria loves to read, and Maria visits the library,' we say 'Maria loves to read, and *she* visits the library.'
AntecedentThe noun or pronoun that a pronoun refers back to or replaces.In 'Maria loves to read, and *she* visits the library,' *Maria* is the antecedent for the pronoun *she*.
Personal PronounPronouns that refer to specific people or things (e.g., I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them).*They* went to the park. (*They* refers to a specific group of people.)
Possessive PronounPronouns that show ownership or possession (e.g., mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs).That book is *hers*. (*Hers* indicates the book belo...
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Key Rules & Conventions
The Antecedent Comes First
A pronoun's antecedent usually appears before the pronoun in a sentence or a preceding sentence.
To find the antecedent, always look for the noun or pronoun that the pronoun is replacing or referring to, typically earlier in the text. Pronouns rarely appear before their antecedents in standard English.
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement (Number and Gender)
A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine/neuter).
If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must be singular (e.g., 'The *boy* read *his* book'). If the antecedent is plural, the pronoun must be plural (e.g., 'The *girls* shared *their* snacks'). Gender agreement means using 'he/him/his' for masculine, '...
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Challenging
Original sentence: 'Maria told her sister that she needed to finish the homework.' Which revision best clarifies the ambiguous antecedent?
A.Maria told her sister, 'I need to finish my homework.'
B.She needed to finish the homework, so Maria told her sister.
C.Maria told her sister that the homework needed to be finished by her.
D.The homework needed to be finished, and Maria told her sister that.
Challenging
Original sentence: 'One of the female astronauts must check their equipment before launch.' Which of the following correctly revises the pronoun-antecedent agreement error?
A.One of the female astronauts must check their equipments before launch.
B.One of the female astronauts must check her equipment before launch.
C.One of the female astronauts must check them equipment before launch.
D.One of the female astronauts must check its equipment before launch.
Challenging
Read the sentence: 'Before he could eat the sandwich, the dog snatched it from the table.' Which statement accurately describes the pronoun-antecedent relationship?
A.The pronoun 'he' has no antecedent in this sentence.
B.The antecedent 'dog' comes after its pronoun 'he'.
C.The pronoun 'he' appears before its antecedent, 'the dog', which is grammatically correct in this structure.
D.The pronoun 'it' has an ambiguous antecedent.
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What grade level is "Identify pronouns and their antecedents"?
Identify pronouns and their antecedents is a Grade 7 English Language Arts lesson on ExcelOS.
What will I learn in Identify pronouns and their antecedents?
You'll be able to: Identify pronouns (personal, possessive, reflexive, intensive, demonstrative, interrogative, and relative) in a given sentence with 80% accuracy; Match pronouns to their correct antecedents in a paragraph with at least 75%….
Is "Identify pronouns and their antecedents" free to practice?
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How many practice questions are included with Identify pronouns and their antecedents?
This lesson includes 25 practice questions across multiple difficulty levels, each with instant feedback and explanations.