What are Antecedents in Grammar? Give Examples

An antecedent is the word that a pronoun indicates in the sentence. In brief, antecedent signifies the word, which is mentioned in the sentence previous to the pronoun. An example can make it clear.

Example: Riya could not complete her project because of health issue.
Here, the pronoun ‘her’ refers to Riya, the noun of the sentence. The antecedent is Riya. Here, the antecedent comes before the pronoun.

Generally, the antecedent is the noun or noun phrase and it does not always come before the pronoun. If it is a name, then it is always placed before the pronoun.

Example: When you see him, please tell the teacher that I may late today.
Here, the antecedent is teacher and it comes after the pronoun.

However, antecedent is important in English grammar as it makes each sentence clear to the readers. Without the antecedent, the sentence remains meaningless and incomplete. In brief, it accelerates the authors’ writing style.

More Examples of Antecedent-

Geeta informed me that she will be late today.

The man who lives in the city, misses his hometown badly.

Meena, did you see the dress that I took yesterday?
(Here, ‘Meena’ is the antecedent of you and the dress is the antecedent of ‘that’.)

Radha said she likes burger.
(Here, the noun is the antecedent)

Lara was scared and she called the police.

Lily is helpful, and so is Kim.
(Here, the adjective is the antecedent.)

He reached Bangalore at night, when no one is at home.
(Here, the prepositional phrase is the antecedent.)

Ravi managed his work very carefully, and Reena did it like that only.
(Here, the adverb phrase is the antecedent.)

Farah works hard, but Mona does not do the same.
(Here, the verb phrase is the antecedent.)

Sheena is very lazy, that everybody knows. (Here, the entire clause is the antecedent.)

Antecedent Examples in the Literature:

‘Ode to Autumn’ is a nice poem written by John Keats and here, antecedent is used suitably.

“And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimmed their clammy cell.”

William Shakespeare is another remarkable person who used antecedent in his play named ‘The Comedy of Errors’.
On the other hand, ‘A Poison Tree’ is a well-written poem by William Blake and it comprises a good example of antecedent.

“I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.”
Here, ‘foe’ is the antecedent of it.