LANGUAGE CORNER
Antecedents
Remembering Those Gone Before
Everybody knows that a pronoun needs to agree with its antecedent, the earlier noun that the pronoun stands in for. We can't, for instance, say "Democrats" and follow up with "it." But the problem is trickier in sentences like this one, which are common: "The testimony provided the strongest corroboration to date of White House claims that its office of personnel security..." The antecedent for "its" seems to be "White House," but it can't be. A pronoun's antecedent has to be a noun, and in that sentence, the executive mansion is used as an adjective, modifying "claims." To make it right, change it to "...the White House's..." Using the possessive turns "White House" back into a noun, and we're home free.
