The Grammar Guru: Pronoun agreement

The Grammar Guru knows that while not everyone loves grammar, everyone can improve his or her grammar.
The Grammar Guru knows that while not everyone loves grammar, everyone can improve his or her grammar.

Mekita Rivas, SNR communications associate, publishes a biweekly feature called "Grammar Guru."

Every other week, the Grammar Guru will share writing tips to help make your work as polished as possible. Some of these tips may address common spelling errors, while others will examine the many nuances of the English language.

Grammar Guru Tip #19
A pronoun usually refers to something earlier in the text (its antecedent) and must agree in number — singular/plural — with the thing to which it refers.

Example:
NOT: Everybody must bring their own lunch.
BUT: Everybody must bring his or her own lunch.

Pro tip: The indefinite pronouns anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, no one and nobody are always singular. This is sometimes confusing to writers who feel that everyone and everybody (especially) are referring to more than one person. The same is true of either and neither, which are always singular even though they seem to be referring to two things.

Need some grammar guidance? The UNL Style Guide (http://unlcms.unl.edu/ucomm/styleguide/) is a great resource for all university employees. If you have writing questions that the style guide doesn't answer, feel free to email the Grammar Guru at mrivas@unl.edu.