Writing · Lesson 47
Pronoun Agreement
Match the pronoun to the word it replaces · 8-question timed quiz · Bilingual (English / Español)
The problem · Select the part of the sentence that is incorrect
The incorrect part is their. It should be its.
A pronoun has to match the word it stands for. Here their points back to “any freely moving liquid” — one liquid, singular. Their is plural, so it does not match. The singular possessive is its.
La parte incorrecta es their. Debería ser its.
Un pronombre tiene que coincidir con la palabra que reemplaza. Aquí their se refiere a “any freely moving liquid” — un líquido, singular. Their es plural, así que no coincide. El posesivo singular es its.
La oración ya te dio la respuesta. El verbo es forms, no form — así que el autor trató “any freely moving liquid” como singular desde el principio. El pronombre solo tiene que concordar con esa decisión.
The corrected sentence
Note the spelling: its, with no apostrophe. It’s always means it is or it has, and “it is surface tension naturally leads” is nonsense. When a possessive pronoun is the answer, it never takes an apostrophe.
Fíjate en la escritura: its, sin apóstrofo. It’s siempre significa it is o it has, y “it is surface tension naturally leads” no tiene sentido. Cuando la respuesta es un pronombre posesivo, nunca lleva apóstrofo.
Matching the pronoun to what it replaces
| If the word it replaces is… | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| One thing | it, its | the liquid … its surface tension |
| One person, male | he, him, his | the student … his notebook |
| One person, female | she, her, hers | the teacher … her grades |
| More than one | they, them, their | the liquids … their surface tension |
The whole skill is two steps: find the noun the pronoun is standing in for, then count it. One, or more than one? Everything else follows.
In everyday speech people say “a student should bring their book,” and that is normal spoken English. On this test it is marked wrong, because the written rule still requires a singular pronoun for a singular noun.
Toda la destreza son dos pasos: halla el sustantivo al que reemplaza el pronombre y cuéntalo. ¿Uno o más de uno? Lo demás sale solo.
Al hablar la gente dice “a student should bring their book”, y eso es inglés hablado normal. En este examen se marca como error, porque la regla escrita sigue exigiendo un pronombre singular para un sustantivo singular.
Words that look plural but are not
| Word | Number | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| each, every | Singular | Each student brought his or her lunch. |
| any (with a singular noun) | Singular | Any liquid forms a sphere because of its surface tension. |
| either, neither | Singular | Neither of the teachers has submitted her grades. |
| everyone, everybody, someone | Singular | Everyone took his or her seat. |
| a group, a team, a committee | Singular | The committee announced its decision. |
These are the words test writers build these questions around, because every one of them feels plural. “Each of the students” sounds like many students, but each is the subject and each means one at a time.
A reliable trick for the of phrases: cross out everything from of onward. “Neither of the teachers has submitted” — now the singular is obvious.
Estas son las palabras con las que se construyen estas preguntas, porque todas parecen plurales. “Each of the students” suena a muchos estudiantes, pero el sujeto es each, y each significa uno a la vez.
Un truco confiable para las frases con of: tacha todo desde of en adelante. “Neither of the teachers has submitted” — ahora el singular es obvio.
Checking all four underlined parts
| Part | What it is doing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| freely | Adverb describing “moving” — how the liquid moves | Correct |
| automatically | Adverb describing “forms” — how it forms a sphere | Correct |
| their | Plural pronoun standing for a singular noun | Incorrect → its |
| leads | Agrees with its own subject, “surface tension” — singular | Correct |
leads is the trap here. A student who has already decided the sentence is plural will want to “fix” it to lead — but leads has its own subject, surface tension, which is singular. Each verb answers to the noun in front of it, not to the whole sentence.
Two of the four parts are adverbs, which is the skill from the last lesson. These items rotate through the same handful of error types, so recognizing which kind of word you are looking at is half the work.
leads es la trampa. Un estudiante que ya decidió que la oración es plural querrá “corregirlo” a lead — pero leads tiene su propio sujeto, surface tension, que es singular. Cada verbo responde al sustantivo que tiene delante, no a toda la oración.
Dos de las cuatro partes son adverbios, que es la destreza de la lección anterior. Estas preguntas rotan entre los mismos pocos tipos de error, así que reconocer qué clase de palabra miras es la mitad del trabajo.
How to work the sentence
Step 1 Find the pronoun among the underlined parts. their Step 2 Ask: what noun is it standing in for? "any freely moving liquid" Step 3 Count it. One, or more than one? one liquid → singular (the verb "forms" already confirms this) Step 4 Use the matching pronoun. their → its (no apostrophe)
Helping a student with this
Spanish marks agreement everywhere — su covers both singular and plural owners, but the noun endings and articles carry the number constantly. So a Spanish-speaking student is used to checking number; what is new is that English puts the burden on one small word.
The useful question in Spanish is “¿de cuántos líquidos estamos hablando?” One liquid, so one pronoun. Students answer that instantly in their first language, and then the English choice is already made.
El español marca la concordancia por todas partes — su sirve para dueños singulares y plurales, pero las terminaciones y los artículos cargan el número constantemente. Así que un estudiante hispanohablante ya está acostumbrado a revisar el número; lo nuevo es que el inglés pone todo el peso en una palabrita.
La pregunta útil en español es “¿de cuántos líquidos estamos hablando?” Un líquido, entonces un pronombre. Los estudiantes responden eso al instante en su primera lengua, y la elección en inglés ya está hecha.
8 questions · 10 minutes
8 preguntas · 10 minutos
The clock starts when you press the button. / El reloj empieza al presionar el botón.
Agreement strategy · Estrategia de concordancia
1. Draw an arrow back to the noun · Dibuja una flecha hacia el sustantivo
Every pronoun replaces a noun that appeared earlier. Find that noun and draw an arrow to it. Here their reaches back past several words to “any freely moving liquid.”
Once the arrow is drawn, the question answers itself: one liquid, so a singular pronoun. Students who skip this step are guessing from how the sentence sounds.
Todo pronombre reemplaza un sustantivo que apareció antes. Halla ese sustantivo y dibuja una flecha hacia él. Aquí their se remonta varias palabras hasta “any freely moving liquid”.
Una vez dibujada la flecha, la pregunta se responde sola: un líquido, entonces pronombre singular. Quien se salta este paso adivina por cómo suena la oración.
2. Let the verb tell you the number · Deja que el verbo te diga el número
The sentence says “any freely moving liquid forms a sphere.” Forms with an s is the singular form, so the writer already decided the subject is singular. The pronoun has to match that.
This is free information, and it is usually sitting right there in the sentence. When a verb and a pronoun disagree about number, one of them is the error — and the verb is usually the one that is right.
La oración dice “any freely moving liquid forms a sphere”. Forms con s es la forma singular, así que el autor ya decidió que el sujeto es singular. El pronombre tiene que coincidir.
Esta información es gratis y suele estar ahí mismo. Cuando un verbo y un pronombre no concuerdan en número, uno de los dos es el error — y normalmente el verbo es el que está bien.
3. Cross out the “of” phrase · Tacha la frase con “of”
“Each of the students brought…” — cover everything from of onward and the real subject appears. Each is singular, so it takes his or her, not their.
The plural noun inside the of phrase is there to mislead you. It is never the subject, and it never decides the pronoun.
“Each of the students brought…” — tapa todo desde of en adelante y aparece el sujeto real. Each es singular, así que lleva his or her, no their.
El sustantivo plural dentro de la frase con of está ahí para despistarte. Nunca es el sujeto, y nunca decide el pronombre.
4. Remember that its has no apostrophe · Recuerda que its no lleva apóstrofo
The fix here is its, spelled with no apostrophe at all. It’s is short for it is or it has and is never possessive.
Read the sentence with it is substituted in to check. “It is surface tension naturally leads” is nonsense, so the possessive its is what belongs there.
La corrección aquí es its, escrito sin ningún apóstrofo. It’s es la forma corta de it is o it has y nunca es posesivo.
Lee la oración sustituyendo it is para comprobarlo. “It is surface tension naturally leads” no tiene sentido, así que lo que corresponde es el posesivo its.
5. How to explain this to a student · Cómo explicárselo a un estudiante
Ask the question in Spanish first: “¿De cuántos líquidos estamos hablando?” They answer “uno” immediately. Then ask what English word means su for one thing. The answer is already theirs.
Be honest that “a student should bring their book” is what everyone actually says. Students hear their used this way constantly, so telling them it is simply wrong feels false. Telling them that written tests still require the older rule is true, and it is something they can act on.
Haz la pregunta primero en español: “¿De cuántos líquidos estamos hablando?” Responden “uno” de inmediato. Luego pregunta qué palabra en inglés significa su para una sola cosa. La respuesta ya es suya.
Sé honesto: “a student should bring their book” es lo que todo el mundo dice de verdad. Los estudiantes oyen their así todo el tiempo, y decirles que simplemente está mal suena falso. Decirles que los exámenes escritos aún exigen la regla antigua es cierto, y es algo que pueden aplicar.
6. Pace yourself on a timed test · Administra el tiempo
If a pronoun is one of the underlined choices, check it first. Finding its noun and counting takes about five seconds, and pronoun agreement is one of the most frequently tested errors on this section.
Eight questions in ten minutes is 75 seconds each. Pronouns, verbs, and describing words account for most of the errors — check those three categories before rereading.
Si un pronombre es una de las opciones subrayadas, revísalo primero. Hallar su sustantivo y contarlo toma unos cinco segundos, y la concordancia de pronombres es uno de los errores más evaluados de esta sección.
Ocho preguntas en diez minutos son 75 segundos cada una. Pronombres, verbos y palabras descriptivas explican casi todos los errores — revisa esas tres categorías antes de releer.
Palabras clave · Key words
| English | Español | Qué es |
|---|---|---|
| pronoun | pronombre | Reemplaza un sustantivo |
| antecedent | antecedente | El sustantivo al que se refiere |
| agreement | concordancia | Coincidir en número |
| singular | singular | Uno solo |
| plural | plural | Más de uno |
| its | su (de una cosa) | Posesivo, sin apóstrofo |
| their | su (de varios) | Posesivo plural |
| each / every | cada | Siempre singular |
| neither / either | ninguno / cualquiera | Siempre singular |
| collective noun | sustantivo colectivo | team, committee — singular |
Completa el pronombre — “Every planet has ___ own orbit” · “The scientists published ___ findings” · “Each of the girls raised ___ hand” · “The team won ___ first game.” Las respuestas son its, their, her e its.