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In the first example, they stands for the human antecedent children. In the secondexample, they stands for the non· human antecedent umbrellas.The main rules for the agreement of the third person pronouns he, she, it and theywith their antecedents can be summarized as follows:Agreement of Third Person Pronouns with their AntecedentsPronounhesheittheyAntecedentsingular, male, usually humansingular, female, usually humansingular, non· humanpluralSee Exercises 1 and 2.A pronoun should not be used to stand for a noun, unless it is obvious to which noun thepronoun is referring. For instance, in the following examples, it is not clear to whichnouns the underlined pronouns refer.e.g. My friend was there with her mother. She was wearing a blue dress.The children stared at the horses. They were ready to start.In the first example, the pronoun she could stand either for the noun friend or for thenoun mother. Similarly, in the second example, the pronoun they could stand for eitherchildren or horses.In written English, when it is not obvious to which antecedent a pronoun refers, therelevant sentence should be corrected. This can be done either by repeating the noun,instead of using a pronoun; or by rewriting the sentence to make the meaning clear. Forinstance, the preceding examples could be corrected as follows. It will be assumed thatshe refers to friend, and that they refers to horses.e.g. My friend was there with her mother. My friend was wearing a blue dress.or My friend, wearing a blue dress, was there with her mother.The children stared at the horses. The horses were ready to start.or The children stared at the horses, which were ready to start.See Exercise 3.3. Special uses of ItThe pronoun it can be used without an antecedent in sentences referring to generalconditions such as the weather or the time.e.g. It is raining.It has been a wet summer.It is too hot here.It is the twenty·fourth of April.It is seven o'clock.