Question

Select the antecedent of the pronoun in the following sentence. The strikers will return to work when the union representatives have completed their negotiations.

a. strikers
b. negotiations
c. work
d. representatives

Answer 1

Antecedent is the word, usually a noun, which a pronoun refers to. So, the pronoun in this sentence is the word "their." Whose negotiations are these? Those of union representatives. Having this in mind, the correct answer is D. representatives, because these negotiations are being completed by them, not anyone else.

Answer 2

Something that precedes something else is referred to as antecedent. Therefore, pronoun-antecedent refers to the word which precedes the pronoun, or to which the pronouns refer. The pronouns are the words which are used in place of a noun. Hence, the pronoun has to agree in number that is if the antecedent is singular then the pronoun used must be singular to take its place.

Hence, in the above sentence, the antecedent of the pronoun "their" is d. representatives. The pronoun 'their' agrees with the number of plural with the word representatives.