Antecedent (grammar)
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In grammar, an antecedent is generally the noun or noun phrase to which an anaphor refers in a coreference. However, an antecedent can also be a clause, especially when the anaphor is a demonstrative. In these sentences, the antecedent is in bold and the anaphor in italics:
A common stylistic problem in writing, often leading to ambiguity, is the use of a pronoun for which the antecedent is not clear, as in the following example:
- I met John at Mike's party. He told me about his new friend.
Did John tell the speaker about his own new friend? Did John tell the speaker about Mike's new friend? Did Mike tell the speaker about his own new friend? Or did Mike tell the speaker about John's new friend? Generally most competent speakers would agree that "he" refers to "John." This is normally explained in terms of salience, but even still in ordinary speech, listeners are often confused by such sentences. Occasionally, the antecedent may be missing from the discourse, as when someone wonders out loud: "I wonder where I put it?", with no clear antecedent for the pronoun "it." Also the antecedent may not occur in the current discourse but instead refer to an object familiar to both speaker and listener, for example "the FBI."
Another issue is the use of a pronoun and anaphor which differ in number, for example "Everyone had their own sleeping bag." A superficial analysis tells us that the words everyone and everybody are singular, meaning every "one" and every "body". Thus it might seem natural that neither of these words should be used with the plural anaphor "their." The linguistic truth is however, that while everyone and everybody are both syntactically singular, they are to most speakers, semantically-speaking, plural. This is because said indefinite pronouns are markers of universality, encompassing all within a group, or all absolutely. Therefore it is this inclusiveness which links these seemingly singular pronouns with the concept of plurality in the minds of most speakers. Similarly, "Each student" is singular, but requires the use of the gender-inclusive "his or her" which is often seen as awkward. The sentence "Each camper had his or her own sleeping bag" is thus correct but inelegant. This is a question of writing style rather than grammar when analyzed to this point. The sentence "All the campers had their sleeping bags" is clearer, while "Each camper had their own sleeping bag" is still possible and much more common than the "his or her own" option.
Antecedents are of particular importance in connection with relative pronouns; the pronoun usually opens the relative clause, but the antecedent is located in the main clause.
- As I was going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't there...
Sometimes the anaphor may not appear, but be implied by syntactic principles, this is called a zero anaphor.
- Raven and Marco went up the hill, to fetch a pail of water.
(In this sentence, no anaphor appears explicitly, but an implicit zero anaphor, coreferent with the main clause subject, is the subject of the verb "fetch".)
An antecedent may also be a clause as in this example
- "I guess he's enjoying himself."
- "Yes, that's right"
In the following example the antecedent is separated by the verb.
- A situation has arisen that calls for immediate action.
Different languages employ this to varying degrees. For example, in Arabic and Hebrew it is not permitted at all (the antecedent must always come right before the relative pronoun or conjunction or clause), in English it is used to avoid awkward constructions, and in German such separation is frequent due to the practice of shunting the verb to the end of the sentence. In Spanish, the antecedent often appears after the verb, preceding an adjective (dependent) clause (e.g., "Busco una novia que sea sensible" meaning "I'm looking for a girlfriend who is sensitive").
