What is the antecedent of the word they?

Answer 1

The pronoun 'their' is a possessive adjective. A possessive adjective, a word that describes a noun as belonging to two or more people or things, the antecedent. A possessive adjective is placed just before the noun it describes. Example:

• The Browns live on my street, their house is on the corner.
• Fran and Frank have invited us to their barbecue.

The possessive pronoun is 'theirs', a word that takes the place of a noun that belongs to someone or something, the antecedent. Example:

• The Browns live on my street; the house on the corner is theirs.
• Fran and Frank have the barbecue because theirs is the biggest back yard.

Answer 2

An antecedent is the noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that the pronoun is replacing. The antecedent of the pronoun "they" can be a plural noun or pronoun, or two or more nouns or pronouns.

For example:

The girls were late for school, so they ran the last three blocks.

• The plural noun"girls" is the antecedent for the pronoun "they".

Some of the witnesses claim that they saw the suspects face.

• The plural indefinite pronoun "some" is the antecedent for the pronoun "they".

Jack and Jill went up the hill. They were going to the convenience store.

• The noun phrase "Jack and Jill" is the antecedent for the pronoun "they".

Answer 3

The antecedent is the noun that the pronoun is replacing.

The antecedent of the pronoun 'them' is a plural noun, or two or more nouns for people or things.

The pronoun 'them' functions as the object of a verb or a preposition.

Examples:

The boys went to the park. I saw themplaying on the swings. (direct object of the verb 'saw')

John and Jeff are my brothers, both of themare older than me. (object of the preposition 'of')

I want one of them. (the antecedent for the pronoun 'them' ,the thing that the speaker wants, is not mentioned in the sentence because the speaker is gesturing to the listener as the sentence is spoken)

Answer 4

The antecedent for the adjective pronoun its, a word that describes a noun, is the noun that the adjective describes belongs to; for example:

The book was at half price because its cover was torn.