Question

Read the sentence. Washington knew that he had to do something to protect the fort from the French or it would fall into their hands. Which pronoun in the sentence has no specific antecedent?

Answer 1

The correct answer is : something

A pronoun antecedent is a word that comes before a pronoun to which the pronoun refers. The word 'antecedent' itself means something that precedes something else. A pronoun is a word used to stand for or take place of a noun.

In the above sentence, there are three pronouns: something, it and their.

It is a subjective personal pronoun and it refers back to the word fort in the sentence ( it = the front would fall ).

Their is a possessive personal pronoun and it refers back to the words the French in the sentence ( their = in the hands of the French ).

Something is an indefinite pronoun and it does not have a word to refer back to in the sentence. It does not a specific antecedent.