Meaning & use
antecedent
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Meanings
nouncountable
Something that came before and helped cause or shape what followed.
Grammar: Often used in the plural: antecedents. Can be followed by of: the antecedents of the war.
Patterns
- antecedent of something
- historical antecedents
- the antecedents of an event
The antecedents of the revolution go back many decades.
We must study the antecedents of this disease.
Her success has its antecedents in her early training.
nouncountable
(grammar) The word that a pronoun refers back to.
Grammar: In 'The dog wagged its tail', 'dog' is the antecedent of 'its'. The pronoun must agree with its antecedent.
Patterns
- antecedent of a pronoun
- agree with its antecedent
In the sentence 'Mary lost her keys', 'Mary' is the antecedent of 'her'.
A pronoun must match its antecedent in number.
The antecedent is unclear in that sentence.
nounpluralformal
(plural) A person's family background or past history.
Grammar: Always plural in this sense: someone's antecedents. Formal or literary.
Patterns
- someone's antecedents
- check someone's antecedents
The employer checked the antecedents of all applicants.
He was proud of his humble antecedents.
Her antecedents suggested a life of hard work.
Word forms
| plural | antecedents |
|---|
Common combinations
- historical antecedents
- The conflict has deep historical antecedents.
- antecedent of a pronoun
- The antecedent of 'they' is 'the students'.
- agree with its antecedent
- In English, a pronoun must agree with its antecedent.
- antecedents of
- Scientists are studying the antecedents of the virus.
Synonyms and how they differ
- precursor
- Precursor often suggests something that signals what comes next, while antecedent is simply what came before.
- forerunner
- Forerunner is an early version of something later, but antecedent can be any earlier event or thing.
- cause
- Cause directly produces an effect, whereas antecedent may only precede or influence it.
Opposites
Word family
- antecede verb
- To come before in time (rare).
- antecedence noun
- The state of coming before (rare).
Commonly confused: antecedent or predecessor?
antecedent vs predecessor
Predecessor usually refers to a person who held a job before someone else; antecedent is a broader term for any earlier thing.
Practice
In 'The cat chased its tail', what is the antecedent of 'its'?
Choose one answer.
'Cat' is the noun that 'its' refers back to, so it is the antecedent. 'Chased' is a verb, 'tail' is the object, and 'its' is the pronoun itself.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “antecedent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.