An antecedent is the word, phrase, or clause that a pronoun refers to. For example, in the sentence "The dog wagged its tail," "dog" is the antecedent for the pronoun "its."
Here’s a brief explanation of the other terms you mentioned:
-
Clause: A group of words that includes a subject and a verb. It can be independent (able to stand alone) or dependent (cannot stand alone).
-
Phrase: A group of words that functions as a single unit within a sentence but does not contain both a subject and a verb.
-
Sentence: A group of words that expresses a complete thought and typically contains a subject and a predicate.
-
Group of words that work together as a unit within a sentence: This generally describes phrases or clauses depending on the specific structure they represent.
So, the correct definition for "antecedent" is specifically the first choice, referring to the noun or noun phrase that the pronoun substitutes.
1 answer