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Rules / grammar

GRM-004 Hard constraint layer: sentence

Pronoun–antecedent agreement

IF a pronoun refers to an antecedent AND the antecedent is known, THEN align person and number while respecting singular THEY ELSE request the missing referent.

Why the rule exists

Agreement and a stable referent prevent identity confusion.

Condition

The rule fires when this evaluates true. Paths marked below must be present in the fact base; the engine reports the rest rather than guessing them.

  • ALL
    • pronoun exists
    • pronoun.antecedent exists

Facts this rule reads

PathSource
pronoun You supply it
pronoun.antecedent You supply it

Then

  1. align — target pronoun.person, value from pronoun.antecedent.person
  2. align — target pronoun.number, value from pronoun.antecedent.number

Else

  1. request_context — target pronoun.antecedent

LAKA

Smallest sufficient intervention
Yes
Primary axes

Sources

  • Garner's Modern English Usage — Bryan A. Garner
    Modern American usage and editorial judgment.
  • The Copyeditor's Handbook — Amy Einsohn; Marilyn Schwartz
    Professional copyediting practice, grammar, and editorial process.
  • Practical English Usage — Michael Swan
    Advanced grammar and usage reference for learners and teachers.
  • Grammar, Punctuation, and Sentence Structure — Purdue Online Writing Lab link
    Practical mechanics, clause, sentence, punctuation, and style guidance.
The raw rule record

Verbatim from 07-core-grammar-rules.json. Also available at /v1/rules/GRM-004.

{
  "id": "GRM-004",
  "name": "Pronoun–antecedent agreement",
  "domain": "grammar",
  "layer": "sentence",
  "strength": "hard_constraint",
  "human_logic": "IF a pronoun refers to an antecedent AND the antecedent is known, THEN align person and number while respecting singular THEY ELSE request the missing referent.",
  "when": {
    "all": [
      {
        "path": "pronoun",
        "operator": "exists"
      },
      {
        "path": "pronoun.antecedent",
        "operator": "exists"
      }
    ]
  },
  "then": [
    {
      "action": "align",
      "target": "pronoun.person",
      "value_from": "pronoun.antecedent.person"
    },
    {
      "action": "align",
      "target": "pronoun.number",
      "value_from": "pronoun.antecedent.number",
      "allow": [
        "singular_they"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "else": [
    {
      "action": "request_context",
      "target": "pronoun.antecedent"
    }
  ],
  "unless": [],
  "because": "Agreement and a stable referent prevent identity confusion.",
  "diagnostics": [],
  "examples": {},
  "source_ids": [
    "BK-003",
    "BK-007",
    "BK-010",
    "WEB-011"
  ],
  "laka": {
    "smallest_sufficient_intervention": true,
    "primary_axes": [
      "scope",
      "depth",
      "magnitude",
      "reversibility"
    ]
  }
}

Other grammar rules

  1. GRM-001 Subject–verb number agreement IF a finite clause has an expressed subject AND neither quoted dialect nor an agreement exception applies, THEN align the finite verb with the subject in number ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  2. GRM-002 Compound subject agreement IF two or more singular subject heads are coordinated by AND, THEN use plural agreement ELSE evaluate the coordinator. Hard constraint
  3. GRM-003 Or/nor proximity agreement IF subject alternatives are joined by OR or NOR, THEN agree with the closest subject OR rewrite when the result sounds unstable ELSE retain. Context default
  4. GRM-005 Unambiguous pronoun reference IF a pronoun has two or more plausible antecedents OR none, THEN replace it with the intended noun phrase ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  5. GRM-006 Stable grammatical person IF a passage shifts person without changing speaker, audience, or viewpoint, THEN restore the established person ELSE preserve the motivated shift. Context default
  6. GRM-007 Tense consistency within a time frame IF tense changes but event time and narrative viewpoint do not, THEN restore the established tense ELSE keep the meaningful time shift. Context default
  7. GRM-008 Sequence of tenses IF a dependent clause is temporally related to a governing clause, THEN select tense and aspect that express the intended ordering ELSE do not normalize automatically. Hard constraint
  8. GRM-009 Complete comparative relation IF a comparison can attach to more than one comparison set, THEN state the full set or rewrite ELSE retain. Hard constraint