Question

What would be the antecedents in this sentence? ""No one knew who brought the banana bread to the potluck dinner.""

Answer 1

Answer:

The pronoun has no stated antecedent.

Explanation:

In the sentence "No one knew who brought the banana bread to the potluck dinner," the pronoun is "no one". "No one" is an indefinite pronoun, which means it does not refer to someone in particular. Indefinite pronouns, unlike other pronouns, do not have specified antecedents. For example, in a sentence such as "Claire is coming over. She's bringing wine," we can clearly find the antecedent for the pronoun "she", that is, the word to which "she" refers. It is Claire. "She" is used to substitute Claire. However, in a sentence such as "Someone ate the cookie," we have an indefinite pronoun. "Someone" does not have an antecedent, it does not refer to a particular person. Therefore, when it comes to the sentence in the question, the best way to explain it is that it has no stated antecedent.