An antecedent is a word or phrase that gives meaning to a pronoun that comes after it and replaces it). It is also known as a referent. In grammar, the antecedent is one or more words that establish the meaning of a pronoun or other pro-form). For example, in the sentence "John arrived late because traffic held him up," the word "John" is the antecedent of the pronoun "him"). Antecedents are used to clarify what or who a pronoun is referring to. It is important to understand the relationship between pronouns and antecedents. Some antecedents are compound subjects, which means they feature two nouns joined by a conjunction like "and" or "or." The conjunction determines whether compound subjects functioning as antecedents need to be replaced by a plural or singular word.