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 Pronoun Reference

Pronouns usually refer to other words, called their antecedents because they (should)
come before the pronoun . A pronoun's antecedent may be either a noun or another
pronoun, but in either case, it must be clear what the antecedent is. Consider this example:

Micheline told Ruth that she would take Jerry to the barn dance.

It is not clear whether the pronoun "she" in this sentence refers to Ruth or Micheline.
Unless pronouns refer unmistakably to distinct, close, and single antecedents, the reader
will never be sure who's going to the square dance with whom.

* A pronoun should have only one possible antecedent

If there is more than one possible antecedent for a personal pronoun in a sentence, make
sure that the pronoun refers only to one of them:

- Confusing : After Margie met her roommate Alice, she was no longer homesick.
**The pronoun she could refer to either girl.
Clear : After she met her roommate Alice, Margie was no longer homesick
- Confusing : Sally told Mary that that she had won the door prize.
**Sally had the pleasure of informing Mary that she was the winner
of the door prize.
Clear : Sally told Mary that Mary had won the door prize.

* A pronoun should not refer to an implied idea

Make sure that the pronoun refers to a specific rather than to an implicit antecedent: When
you leave the antecedent implied instead of stating it explicitly, the reader has to try to
guess your sentence's meaning:

- Confusing : John put a bullet in his gun and shot it.

**The pronoun "it" can refer either to the noun "gun" or to the implied object of the
verb "shot."
 Clear : John put a bullet in his gun and shot the gun

- Confusing : When listening to this CD, it reminds me of my family.

**The pronoun it can refer to the CD or to the entire statements or to the song .
Clear : When listening to this CD, the lyrics remind me of my family.

- Confusing : The crafts person union reached an agreement on Ruth's penalty, but
it took time.
**The pronoun "it" can refer to the noun "union" or to the implied process of
decision making .
Clear : The crafts person union reached an agreement on Ruly’s penalty , but the
process took time .

* A pronoun should not refer to adjectives or possessive

nouns
You should not use adjectives , or nouns or pronouns in the possessive case , as
antecedents. Although they may imply a noun, reference to them will be ambiguous:

- Confusing : In Ruth's apology she told Jerry she'd loved him for years.

**In this case, the pronoun "she" seems to refer to the noun phrase "Ruth's a
pology," though it was probably meant to refer to possessive noun "Ruth's.

- Confusing : Jerry wore those blasted green knickers , it was his favourite colour.

**In this example, the pronoun "it" seems to refer to the noun "knickers," though it
was probably meant to refer to the adjective "green."

Clear : jerry wore those blasted green knickers , green was his favourite colour .

* A pronoun should not refer to a title

When you start your paper, do not write as if the title itself were part of the body of the
paper. Often, the title will appear on a separate page, and your opening will be confusing.
Imagine, for example, a paper entitled "How to Sew Green Knickers": you should not
begin the first paragraph with a sentence like
 - This is not as easy as it looks .
**in the sentences , This is refer to the tittle How to Sew Green Knickers

The writer probably wanted the pronoun "this" to refer to the idea of sewing knickers, but
since the idea is not in the body of the paper itself, the reference will not make sense.

* Use "it," "they," and "you" carefully

In conversation people often use expressions such as "It says in this book that ..." and "In
my home town they say that ...". These constructions are useful for information
conversation because they allow you to present ideas casually, without supporting
evidence; for academic writing, however, these constructions are either too imprecise or
too wordy:

- Cunfusing : In Chapter four of my autobiography it says that I was born out of

wedlock.
**In Chapter four, what says that the speaker was born out of wedlock ?
Clear : Chapter four of my autobiography states that I was born out of wedlock.

- Cunfusing : In the restaurant they gave me someone else's linguini.

**Who gave the speaker someone else's linguini?
Clear : In the restaurant the server gave me someone else’s linguini .

In these revised sentences, there is no doubt about who is doing what.

The same basic rule applies to the pronoun "you." In informal conversation and in
instructional writing (like HyperGrammar), English speakers often use the pronoun to
mean something like "a hypothetical person" or "people in general"; academic writing,
however, needs to be more precise, and you should use "you" only when you want to
address the reader directly (as I am doing here). Consider this example:

- Confusing : In the fourteenth century, you had to struggle to survive.

**In this case, "you" obviously does not refer to the reader, since the reader was not
alive during the seventeenth century. It would be better to rewrite the sentence so
that it expresses your idea more precisely; for example

- Clear : In the fourteenth century, people had to struggle to survive.

 Or even better yet,

- Clear : In the fourteenth century, English peasant farmers had to struggle to

survive.

* Use "it" consistently within a sentence

There are three common uses of the pronoun "it":

As an idiom : "It is snowing";

To postpone the subject : "It is untrue that a rhinoceros can run faster than my tights";
and
As a personal pronoun : "I wanted a rhinoceros for my birthday, but did not get it."

You may use all of these in academic writing, but to avoid awkwardness , you should not
use more than one within a single sentence:

- Wrong : When it is my birthday, I hope to receive a rhinoceros, and I will walk it

often.
**It would be better to eliminate the first (idiomatic) " it ":

- Right : On my birthday, I hope to receive a rhinoceros, and I will walk it often.

* Use "who," "which," and "that" carefully

Historically, writers, editors, and publishers have had difficulty establishing a clear
guidelines for using the relative pronouns "who," "which," and "that," in formal writing,
but over the last fifty years or so they have come a loose standard. According to this
standard, the pronoun "who" usually refers to people, but may also refer to animals that
have names .

Example :

- My mother, who gave me the rhino, must love me very much. My rhino, whom I
call Spike, wanders at will through the house.

The pronoun "which" refers to animals and things:

Exemple :
 - The rhino , which is a much maligned and misunderstood animal, is really quite
affectionate. Its horn is a matt of hair which is sort of stuck to its snout.

Finally, the pronoun "that" refers to animals and things and occasionally to persons when
they are collective or anonymous:

Example :

- The rhino that hid behind the television was missing for days.
- Rhinos that like to swim cause both plumbing and enamelling problems for their
owners.
- The answer that everyone missed was "Etruscan."

 Example(s)
A : Did you hear the announcement ??
B : No I didn’t . what did it talk about anyway ??
A : it talked about our holiday , in the end of this semester .
B : hmm .. what happen about our holiday ??
A : our headmaster will give it longer ..
B : really ???
A : yeah ..
B : how odd ! he’s so kind to us . you know that our headmaster is so
discipline and almost never give us long holiday ..
A : yeah , I know that . but dont be happy too early .. our assignment is
waiting to be finished .
B : yeah , you right ..
A : where will you go after this class ?
B : I’ll go to the library .. would you mind to accompany me ??
A : never mind .. Im gonna go there too ..
B : that’s good .
A : by the way , how about your chemist test yesterday ??
B : ohh , it’s very annoying you know ?! the questions is so difficult .. all of
my classmate sigh because of it ..
A : wow , I hope it won’t happen in my class tomorrow ..
B : yeah , I hope so .
 Exercise
1. (It , newsreader ) says in the news that in that earthquake twenty five
people got injure .
2. The West Coast is a beautiful area of the country, but I have a real fear of
earthquakes. (They, it, people) claim that the next big quake might
3. Big Boy, (who, which, whom) is a trained killer whale at Ocean
World, tried to swallow a New Jersey toddler who wanted to pet Big Boy's nose.
4. I cannot ride roller coasters like the Kumba at Busch Gardens because ( they, it ,
the rollercoasters) always make you dizzy and sick.
5. ( it , the teacher ) says in the course that whining about grade will cost
a student twenty points at the end of semester .
6. When I went for the job interview (they , the manager) didn't
seem very interested in me

7. He hammered the nail onto the picture frame, and now (it, the nail) is
crooked.
8. He told the teacher that (he, the teacher) was wrong.

* Fix the underline words with the right

sentences
9. While terrifying, hungry space aliens were holding the class hostage, Mr. Parker
announced that the research essays were due early on Friday, not Monday . This
really distressed the poor students .
- Answer :
10. Lori surprised everyone when, at age nineteen, she saved enough money to make a
down payment on her own home. And they say that young people don't understand
financial responsibility!
- Answer :
11. Jenny found a hungry, lost kitten in the mall parking lot. She brought it home to
live with her twenty-three other cats. Cat food and litter get expensive if you have
such a kind heart!
- Answer :
12. Mrs. Schmitz explained to her assistant Julie that she would need a cup of coffee to
finish payroll on time.
- Answer :
13. Being an astronaut is a difficult career. You have to tolerate days in space without
a shower.
- Answer :
14. Because the engine was idling so hard that Owen bounced in his seat at red lights,
he took it to a repair shop where the mechanics explained that he needed a tune up.
- Answer :
15. At the top of Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the Himalayas, you must find the
stamina, supplies, and good luck to make the trip back down to base camp.
- Answer :
16. Because the sky was clouding up, Jack found his umbrella and wrapped it in his
hiking jacket. This way, if rain began, he would have it as he made his trek across
campus for his afternoon chemistry lab .
- Answer :