Pronouns

Pronouns are among the oldest and most fundamental words in any language, serving as stand-ins for nouns so that speakers and writers can avoid clumsy repetition. English inherited its pronoun system from Old English, a language spoken over a thousand years ago, which itself descended from Proto-Germanic and, further back, Proto-Indo-European. Over the centuries, English pronouns have shifted in form, lost certain case endings, and absorbed new conventions, but their core purpose has remained the same: to make communication clearer and more efficient.

Understanding pronouns matters for the ACT because pronoun errors are among the most frequently tested grammar issues on the English section. The test asks you to identify when a pronoun doesn't match its antecedent in number or gender, when the wrong case is used, or when the reference is ambiguous. Mastering these rules can help you pick up several points on test day — and the good news is that the rules are logical and consistent.

Before diving into specific rules, you need to understand a few key terms. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or another pronoun. The word that the pronoun replaces or refers back to is called its antecedent. For example, in the sentence "Maria grabbed her backpack," the pronoun "her" refers to the antecedent "Maria." The ACT tests your ability to ensure that each pronoun has a clear antecedent and that the two agree in number, person, and gender.

In the diagram above, the dashed arrows trace each pronoun back to its antecedent. On the ACT, you should mentally draw these same arrows every time you see an underlined pronoun. Ask yourself: What noun does this pronoun replace? Does it match in number (singular or plural) and gender? If you can't draw a clear, unambiguous arrow to a single antecedent, the sentence likely contains an error.

Rule 1: Pronoun-Antecedent Number Agreement

The most commonly tested pronoun rule on the ACT is number agreement. A singular antecedent takes a singular pronoun, and a plural antecedent takes a plural pronoun. Watch out for tricky singular antecedents like "each," "every," "everyone," "anybody," and "neither" — these words feel plural but are grammatically singular. For instance, "Everyone must submit his or her application" is correct for strict agreement, while "Everyone must submit their application" would be flagged on the ACT as an agreement error.

Rule 2: Pronoun Case

Pronoun case refers to the form a pronoun takes depending on its role in a sentence. Subjective case pronouns (I, he, she, we, they, who) serve as subjects or subject complements. Objective case pronouns (me, him, her, us, them, whom) serve as objects of verbs or prepositions. A simple trick: remove the other person from the sentence. "Me and Jake went to the store" becomes "Me went to the store," which sounds wrong — so the correct version is "Jake and I went to the store."

Rule 3: Who vs. Whom

The distinction between who and whom is a frequent ACT target. "Who" is the subject form (like "he" or "she"), and "whom" is the object form (like "him" or "her"). Try substituting: if "he" fits, use "who"; if "him" fits, use "whom." For example, "The student who received the award" (he received the award) versus "The teacher whom we admire" (we admire him).

Rule 4: Ambiguous or Vague Reference

An ambiguous reference occurs when a pronoun could refer to more than one antecedent. "When the manager spoke with the employee, she was upset" — who was upset? The ACT will offer answer choices that replace the pronoun with a specific noun to eliminate confusion. Also watch for vague uses of "this," "that," "it," or "which" that don't point to a clear noun.

The ACT loves to test pronouns in situations where the correct antecedent is not immediately obvious. Several categories of tricky antecedents appear again and again. Learning to spot these patterns will help you move quickly and confidently through pronoun questions on test day.

Indefinite Pronouns — The Biggest Trap

The ACT frequently pairs indefinite pronouns — words like "everyone," "each," "nobody," and "either" — with plural pronouns to create agreement errors. Even though "everyone" feels like it refers to multiple people, it is grammatically singular. The correct pairing is "Everyone should bring his or her notebook," not "Everyone should bring their notebook" — at least by the standards the ACT currently uses.

• Always singular: each, every, everyone, everybody, everything, anyone, anybody, anything, someone, somebody, something, no one, nobody, nothing, either, neither
• Always plural: both, few, many, several
• Singular or plural (depends on the object of "of"): all, any, more, most, none, some

Let's walk through an ACT-style question step by step. Read the following sentence carefully:

Knowing the rules is half the battle; the other half is recognizing how the ACT presents pronoun errors in context. The test writers are skilled at disguising errors by placing distracting phrases between the pronoun and its antecedent or by using constructions that sound acceptable in everyday speech but violate Standard Written English.

Pronoun mastery doesn't just help you on the ACT — it's a foundational skill for college-level writing. In academic essays, ambiguous pronoun references can undermine your argument's clarity, and case errors can make your prose seem careless to professors. The principles you learn here scale directly into more advanced writing contexts.

It's also worth noting that language conventions evolve. In recent years, the singular "they" has gained wide acceptance in professional and academic writing as a gender-neutral pronoun. However, the ACT currently tests pronoun-antecedent agreement according to traditional Standard Written English rules, which means the test expects singular antecedents to pair with singular pronouns. Stay aware of both the testing standard and real-world usage — you'll need the former for the ACT and the latter for everything after.