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The pro-forms are in bold, and their antecedents are underlined: a. Willy said he likes chocolate. - Noun as antecedent b. My eccentric uncle likes chocolate. He tells everyone to buy him chocolate. - Noun phrase as antecedent c. Larry was helpful, and so was Kim. - Adjective as antecedent d. He arrived in the afternoon, when nobody was home.
Likewise, if the antecedent is more than one thing, again either specific or generic, the pronoun they is used to refer back to it, and again no difficulty arises. When the antecedent is a specific person (whose gender is therefore known), the correct referring pronoun is either he or she, depending on the person's
The pronoun may then be said to "replace" or "stand for" the antecedent, and to be used so as to avoid repeating the antecedent. Some examples: John hid and we couldn't find him. (John is the antecedent of him) After he lost his job, my father set up a small grocer's shop. (my father is the antecedent of he, although it comes after the pronoun)
The English personal pronouns are a subset of English pronouns taking various forms according to number, person, case and grammatical gender. Modern English has very little inflection of nouns or adjectives, to the point where some authors describe it as an analytic language, but the Modern English system of personal pronouns has preserved some of the inflectional complexity of Old English and ...
The choice of relative pronoun typically depends on whether the antecedent is human or non-human: for example, who and its derivatives (whom, whoever, etc.—apart from whose) are generally restricted to human antecedents, while which and what and their derivatives refer in most cases to things, including animals.
He had three genders in Old English, but in Middle English, the neuter and feminine genders split off. Today, he is the only masculine pronoun in English. In the 18th century, it was suggested as a gender-neutral pronoun, and was thereafter often prescribed in manuals of style and school textbooks until the 1960s.
That poor man looks as if he needs a new coat. (the noun phrase that poor man is the antecedent of he) Julia arrived yesterday. I met her at the station. (Julia is the antecedent of her) When they saw us, the lions began roaring (the lions is the antecedent of they; as it comes after the pronoun it may be called a postcedent)
Thus John i asked Mary to wash him i obeys Condition B; John is the antecedent of him, and him is sufficiently far away. He i washed himself i also obeys Condition B; the antecedent himself is local but does not c-command the pronoun He. On the other hand, *John i washed him i is unacceptable; the antecedent John is local and c-commands the ...