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Guest Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Reference word

please tell me what the pronoun their refer to in this sentence:
to some it means a person taking full responsibility of their learning, where they decide ......
  

Top answer

In this sentence, the antecedent of "their" is "a person". In this sentence, "their" is being used as a singular pronoun, which is a perfectly acceptable thing to do. You could equivalently have used either of the phrases "he or she" or "she or he".

— Rommie

  • In this sentence, the antecedent of "their" is "a person".
  • In this sentence, "their" is being used as a singular pronoun, which is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.
  • You could equivalently have used either of the phrases "he or she" or "she or he".
  • "Their" is simply less cumbersome.
  • Rommie
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2 Answers
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In this sentence, the antecedent of "their" is "a person".

In this sentence, "their" is being used as a singular pronoun, which is a perfectly acceptable thing to do. You could equivalently have used either of the phrases "he or she" or "she or he". "Their" is simply less cumbersome.

Rommie
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It could belong in either of the following two examples.

1.In case "a person" is the same one as "their" and "they,"

The numbers do not correspond to each other. In written English, it is not desirable.
So, it'd be better to be written as follows.

"to some it means a person taking full responsibility of HIS/HER learning where HE/SHE decides..."


2.
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