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# antecedent

«antecedent» in Mova's judaism dictionary: **something that came before something else and led to it** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (an antecedent, antecedents); adjective (antecedent — formal)

### meaning for a pupil

1) An antecedent is something that came before something else and led to it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#m1)

2) (grammar) An antecedent is the noun or phrase that a pronoun refers back to: in «Sam lost his hat», «Sam» is the antecedent of «his». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#m2)

3) (plural, formal) Your antecedents are your ancestors or family background. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#m3)

4) (formal adjective) Antecedent means coming before. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

Used in English grammar lessons (pronouns and their antecedents), history (antecedents of a war) and formal writing.

### examples

- In «The dog wagged its tail», «dog» is the antecedent of «its». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#x1)
- Make sure every pronoun has a clear antecedent. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#x2)
- The bicycle's antecedent was a wooden walking machine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#x3)
- The causes antecedent to the war were complicated. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#x4)
- His antecedents came from Ireland. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#x5)
- The penny-farthing was an antecedent of the modern bike. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/#x6)

### note

Formal word. Pronounced an-tih-SEE-dent. Opposite idea: «consequence» or «successor». In grammar, an unclear antecedent confuses readers: «Tom told Ben he was late» — who was late?

### In the corpora

- [The antecedent is the noun a pronoun points back to; a pronoun is ambiguous when it could point to more than one person.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/5-pronouns-i-me-you-they-and-who/19/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «antecedent» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/antecedent/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.