"A patriot is anyone who loves their country" in a later sentence i use a singular word "one" with a plural pronoun "them".
My professor says the pronouns don't agree, but I do not know how to make them agree.
How can I make these sentences agree?
thanks
2007-12-12 06:03:07 · 3 answers · asked by mike 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
Pronouns must agree in (gender, some languages) number (all languages)
"who" is singular, and so the sentence should read:
A patriot is anyone who loves his/her country.
Happy Holidays
2007-12-12 06:06:39 · answer #1 · answered by tracymoo 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It should be: "A patriot is anyone who loves his or her country." - think about it.. they does not agree with one. if your saying "Patriots are people who love their country" then it makes sense to use their. If you are speaking of "one" or a single person, then you have to use him or her. If you are talking about more than one person, then you can use they.. It's how a lot of people talk, so it's hard to break the habit, but you just have to read over the sentences you write. If your using somehting singular, then it has to stay singular the whole time and vice versa. The pronouns have to agree as with any other part of grammer.. You wouldn't say "The water bottles is empty".. It would be "the water bottles ARE empty." The same way that you make the verb agree with the noun, you have to make the pronouns agree.
2007-12-12 14:11:24 · answer #2 · answered by alicia 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The previous answers do it, but the reason for a singular possessive pronoun is that "anyone" is singular, not that "who" is. "Who" can be singular or plural depending on its antecedent.
2007-12-12 14:19:57 · answer #3 · answered by aida 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋