A pronoun usually refers to a
noun (or another pronoun) already mentioned, which is called that pronoun’s antecedent.
For
example: I did not see Mark at the party yesterday because he
wasn’t there.
Here, "Mark" is the
antecedent for the pronoun “he”, and "party" is the antecedent for
the pronoun "there".
A pronoun's antecedent,
however, doesn't always need to be in the same sentence as the pronoun.
For
example: Look at Lisa. She is dancing enthusiastically on the stage.
Here, "She" refers
to Lisa. The pronoun's antecedent is not in the same sentence as the pronoun.
A pronoun must always agree
with its antecedent. If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must also be
singular. If the antecedent is plural, the pronoun must also be plural. For
example:
Lisa
walked off the stage, happy with their performance.
Here, the pronoun, “their” and the antecedent, “Lisa”, do
not agree. “Lisa” is singular, and “their” is plural. To make the pronoun
agree, we need to change “their” to a singular pronoun. The correct version is:
Lisa
walked off the stage, happy with her performance.
In the above example, if the
writer intended to say that Lisa was happy with her group's performance rather
than just her own, then the correct sentence would be:
Lisa
walked off the stage, happy with her group's performance.
Some people may think that
the pronoun "their" would have been correct in this situation.
However, "their" cannot be used here because it doesn't have an
antecedent. All pronouns except for "it" must always have an antecedent.
Therefore, a regular possessive noun, "group's" must be used here.