- Who are they and how do you know?
- Is the noun phrase "antecedent" of they singular or plural?
- How does this bear on your discussion in question A-5?
- Who is her being used to refer to? How do you know?
C. The authors of Writing suggest that because the pronoun they in example 1 is
plural, it cannot have the singular medical profession as its antecedent, hence
that the referent has essentially not been introduced and is therefore
indeterminate. Although the reference of the pronoun in this example may
indeed be "vague," we must ask whether this problem is to be properly
characterized in grammatical terms. Sentence-internally we can see that the
grammatical requirement of number "agreement" does play a role. Compare
example 1 with examples 5 and 6.
5a. The doctor pays themselves well.
b. The doctor pays herself well.
6a. The medical profession pays themselves well.
b. The medical profession pays itself well.
- Both examples 5a and 6a are ungramrnatical. Identify the problem, keeping
in mind examples 1-3.