代词在句子中应在人称、数、性方面保持一致,也指与它所照应的名词保持一致。例:
The women in the committee expressed their opinions at the con-ference.委员会里的妇女在会议上表达了她们的观点。
Mr.Burgess and I visited Beijing last year. We stayed there for one month. 我和伯吉斯去年逛了北京,我们在那里逗留了一个月。
According to the regulations that went into effect last week, anyone caught littering the highways are subject to a large fine. (TOEFL,1997) D错,应改为 is。根据上周生效的规定,凡在公路上乱丢东西者,都要处以大额罚款。(is与anyone 照应)
在英国英语里,和one 照应的代词是one, one's,oneself, 而美国英语里常用he, him, his, himself。例:
One should wash one's hair regularly.人应该经常洗头。
One cannot succeed unless he works hard. 一个人如果不努力,就不能成功。
由于没有与anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody,nobody 相对应的、既可以指男性也可以指女性的单数形式的人称代词,所以在某些场合,用they, them, their是很自然的:Everyone has read the notice, haven't they ( A Practical English Grammar, P.41) 每一个人都看了通知了,是吗?
Nobody objected, did they (同上)
“either / neither + 复数名词” 也有类似的情形。例:
Neither of them could make up his mind. (formal )
Neither of them could make up their minds. (colloquial)
(以上两例见A Practical English Grammar, P.22) 他们中谁也没有打定主意。