4th grade pronoun-antecedent agreement worksheets
Fourth graders handle agreement when the antecedent hides: collective nouns that act singular (the team won its game), compound subjects that act plural (Ravi and Zoe shared their notes). Find the true owner, then match.
Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core L.3.1.f.
A new sheet every click.
The kind of sentences you'll get
Circle the letter of the pronoun that matches its owner.
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The little bakery decorated window for the fall festival.
its · her · their
Answer: its
- The beehive buzzed as warmed in the morning sun. it · they · he
- Yuki and Lena tuned violins backstage. their · its · her
Every print pulls a fresh set of sentences at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling never gets the same sheet.
What's on each sheet
- Choose the word. Circle the letter of the pronoun that matches its owner. 10 questions per page.
Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.
How to teach this
Two traps deserve names. The nearest-noun trap: in "the box of crayons lost its lid," the arrow goes to box, not crayons. And the collective trap: team, class, and family take its in standard American usage even though they contain many people. Students who ask "what does the arrow really point to?" beat both traps.
Watch for: The pronoun matches its owner, not the nearest noun. In 'Maya put the books in her bag', her matches Maya, not books. In formal writing, a team, class, or family counts as one thing and takes its.
Common questions about pronoun-antecedent agreement
- Is it "the team lost their game" or "its game"?
- In standard American English, its: the team acts as one unit. Kids hear their constantly in casual speech and sports announcing, so this is a convention worth teaching explicitly; state tests side with its, and so do our answer keys.
- What about singular they?
- Singular they is widely accepted in modern usage when a person's identity is unknown or general. Our practice items sidestep the debate on purpose: every sentence has a clear antecedent with one standard answer, so students build the matching habit without wading into style arguments.
Related worksheets
- 3rd grade pronoun-antecedent agreement A step easier, same skill
- 5th grade pronoun-antecedent agreement A step harder, same skill
- 6th grade pronoun-antecedent agreement A step harder, same skill
- 4th grade adverbs of how, when, and where Same grade, nearby skill
- 4th grade commonly confused words Same grade, nearby skill
- 4th grade comparative and superlative adjectives Same grade, nearby skill
- Pronoun-antecedent agreement, all grades The full progression
- All 4th grade English worksheets Every skill at this level
- All 4th grade worksheets Everything at this level
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Aligned to Common Core L.3.1.f. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 137, updated August 2026.
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