From The Rocky Mountain English Professor (aka Susan Metzger)

“Somebody forgot to pay their bill.” Aaaaa! Antecedent-pronoun agreement. Can you hear me screaming all the way from Colorado?

What’s wrong with this sentence? For those who have an ever-so-faint memory of the term antecedent-pronoun agreement from middle school, this sentence may sound wrong. That’s because it is.

The word somebody is, of course, singular. It refers to some (one) body—a single person. Prior to maybe the 1960s and the Women’s Liberation Movement, most everyone was comfortable using the male gender to signify all people, even women, especially when the gender was not known. Somebody could be either male or female. We can’t tell from the word by itself, and once upon a time, we were comfortable saying, “Somebody forgot to pay his bill.” This would have worked with a group of both men and women. If only women comprised the group, the pronoun, of course, would be “her,” not “his.”

Those of us who burned our bras in 1967 might feel inclined to decide that all non-gender-specific people are female and, in this case, even in a mixed-gender group, we would choose to use “her” rather than “his.”

And this leads to the more serious issue with this sentence. The subject, somebody, refers to one person, not two or more, so the pronoun their makes no sense. Who the heck is “they”? I thought we were referring to one person, not several. Therefore, this sentence, and others like it, makes no sense. Yet, we hear our politicians, radio personalities, TV news anchors, and inexperienced writers making this big, grammatical error. Below are a few more examples of incorrect antecedent-pronoun agreement. Keep in mind that antecedent refers to the first noun in the sentence, the one that the later pronoun refers back to.

Incorrect: In this gym everyone performs at their own fitness level.

Correct: In this gym everyone performs at his or her own fitness level.

Correct: In this gym all members perform at their own fitness level.

This example brings up what I call The Laziness Factor. It’s much quicker to say “their” own fitness level than to say “his or her,” right? It’s easier to write or say one word than three. But it creates an illogical sentence. There are two fixes: (1) use “his or her” (or just “his” or just “her”) so the singular pronoun agrees with the singular subject of the sentence (everyone) OR (2) change the subject to a plural form so that the word their now makes sense: members perform at their own fitness levels.

I think that this problem has become so prevalent in the last few decades because we’re all trying to be gender neutral, and I appreciate that, but it just doesn’t work grammatically or logically.

Here are a few more examples:

Incorrect: When someone has been using stimulant drugs, they are more likely to drive too fast.

The word someone is singular, and the word they is plural, so it makes no sense.

Correct: When someone has been using stimulant drugs, he or she is more likely to drive too fast.

Correct: When people have been using stimulant drugs, they are more likely to drive too fast.

Incorrect: The new postal carrier finished their route early today.

Correct: The new postal carrier finished his route early today

Correct: All the postal carriers finished their routes early today.

Incorrect: A medical student must study hard if they want to graduate.

Correct: A medical student must study hard if he or she wants to graduate.

Correct: Medical students must study hard if they want to graduate.

The huge problem with all of those radio and TV announcers, many of our politicians, and, sadly, many elementary school teachers using incorrect antecedent-pronoun agreement is that it begins to sound normal to their listeners’ ears, and therein lies the problem with so much of incorrect grammar. My former daughter-in-law, who earned an on-line masters degree in Education and a huge bump in her salary as a third grade teacher, habitually uses sentences like “Me and him went to the grocery store an hour ago.” And that’s a topic for another time. Can you still hear me screaming across the Colorado mountains?

Thanks for paying attention!

The Rocky Mountain English Professor

Susan is a retired English professor of 25 years who enjoys all that her home state of Colorado offers. She is an avid road bicyclist, hiker, and viola player with six published books who has really, really—yes really—enjoyed teaching grammar and mechanics to her students.