Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Solution

How PC should you be?
Generic use of the masculine pronoun to refer to unspecified or mixed genders is no longer acceptable. Follow these guidelines to avoid offending readers:

• If the noun antecedent is gender-specific, use a gender specific pronoun.
  
  
  • Mike was ill, so he asked his assistant to take over.
  • The president complimented Sharon on her excellent work.
  
  
  
• If the noun antecedent is not gender specific, use one of the following strategies:
  
  
  1. Revise the sentence to eliminate the pronoun.
     
     
  2. Make the antecedent plural so that you can use a plural pronoun.
     
     
     
  3. Use the phrase his or her in place of a gender-specific pronoun. Use this strategy sparingly, however, or your writing will become wordy and clumsy.