Chapter 15: Pronoun and Noun Agreement

Many questions that test apostrophes also test prone on agreement simultaneously as a result, is impossible to discuss one without the other. A pronoun must agree with the knot, which refers to its antecedent or referent, singular pronouns must agree with singular out and plural pronouns must agree with plural nouns.

Things

The vast majority of SAT prone and agreement questions test things.

• SAT prone and agreement questions often test things.

• Understanding the concept of things is important to answer such questions.

• Things refer to objects, ideas, concepts, or anything that can be perceived by the senses.

• They can be tangible or intangible.

• Examples of tangible things include books, tables, and cars.

• Examples of intangible things include love, happiness, and freedom.

• An antecedent may appear in the same sentence in which an underlying proton appears, but it may also appear in the previous sentence or on rear occasioned in the falling sentence.

• When you encounter a set of answer choices that include both singular and plural pronoun, you should always take a moment to figure out which the non pronoun refers to.

• Otherwise you are likely to be very confused by the choices that are grammatically correct, but that create disagreements when plugged into the passage.

People

Singular would be a person or people, and plural would be he or she or him and her. Errors involving people are typically easier to catch than one's involving things for the simpler reason that it is generally quite clear, whether a passage is discussing one person or multiple people.

Noun Agreement

• The SAT tests your understanding of subject-verb agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement, which are both forms of noun agreement.
• Subject-verb agreement means that the subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number (singular or plural). For example, "The cat runs" is correct because "cat" is singular and "runs" agrees with it. "The cats run" is also correct because "cats" is plural and "run" agrees with it.
• Pronoun-antecedent agreement means that a pronoun (like "he" or "they") must agree in number with the noun it replaces (the antecedent). For example, "John went to the store. He bought some milk" is correct because "he" agrees with the singular antecedent "John." "The students went to the store. They bought some milk" is also correct because "they" agrees with the plural antecedent "students."
• Be careful with collective nouns (like "team" or "group") that can be singular or plural depending on the context. For example, "The team is playing well" is correct because "team" is singular. "The team are arguing with each other" is also correct because "team" is acting as a group, so it is plural.
• Remember to check for noun agreement errors when proofreading your writing on the SAT. These errors can be easy to miss, but they can significantly impact your score.

Missing or Ambiguous Antecedent

An antecedent is a word, phrase, or clause that a pronoun refers to. In the SAT/ACT, missing or ambiguous antecedents can cause confusion and make it difficult to understand the meaning of a sentence. Here are some tips to avoid missing or ambiguous antecedents:

• Always make sure that the pronoun has a clear antecedent. If the antecedent is missing, the sentence will be unclear and confusing.
• If there are multiple possible antecedents, make sure to clarify which one the pronoun is referring to. This can be done by adding more information or rephrasing the sentence.
• Be careful with pronouns like "it" and "they" which can be ambiguous without a clear antecedent.
• Use specific nouns instead of pronouns whenever possible to avoid confusion.

By following these tips, you can avoid missing or ambiguous antecedents and ensure that your writing is clear and easy to understand.

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