Using Pronouns
Written
by Dorothy Turner
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:
[WRONG]
Jerry found a gun in the trousers which
he wore.
"Which
he wore" could modify "trousers" or "gun."
[WRONG]
Jerry called Steve twelve times while he
was in Reno.
The
pronoun "he" could refer either to "Jerry" or to
"Steve."
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:
[WRONG] 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."
[WRONG] If I
told you had a beautiful body would you hold it
against me?
The
pronoun "it" can refer to the noun "body" or to the entire
statement.
[WRONG] The
craftspersons' 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.
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:
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 apology," though it was probably meant to refer to possessive noun
"Ruth's."
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."
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.
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:
[WRONG] 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?
[WRONG] In
the restaurant they
gave me someone else's linguini.
Who gave the speaker someone else's linguini?It would be better to rewrite these two sentences as follow:
[RIGHT] Chapter four of my autobiography
states that I was born out of wedlock.
[RIGHT] 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:
[WRONG] 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
[RIGHT] In
the fourteenth century, people had to struggle to survive.
Or
even better yet,
[RIGHT] 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":
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:
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:
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:
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."
Written by Dorothy Turner
Review: Pronoun Reference
In each of the following sentences, decide
whether the writer used the hilighted pronoun
appropriately for academic writing.
1.
It says in this article in The Atlantic Advocate that
Frederictonians are taking up line dancing in unprecedented numbers.
4.
When a dancer which is
talented performs the best-known numbers, the entire audience becomes involved.
6.
Although Fredericton is a small town it
has many interesting sights, and Ruth enjoys spring because it is
the season when all dancers buy new outfits.
7.
It is normal for tourists to visit Fredericton from all
over Canada, especially in the summer, to watch the dancers.
8.
Line dancing has a long and illustrious
history, and it is especially popular with the older generation.
9.
Grandparents, who
were the first generation to line dance, taught their children to consider the
activity as part of Fredericton's heritage.
10.
The reasons for keeping this tradition
alive include an awareness of your roots and pride in your
heritage.
Written
by Dorothy Turner
Tricky Points of Pronoun Usage
This
section covers some relatively tricky points which are no longer standard in
spoken English, though many people still insist upon them in formal writing.
Pronouns in Apposition
A
pronoun
should also be in the subject case when
it is in apposition to a subject or subject complement, and
in the object case when
it is in apposition to the object of a verb, verbal, or preposition:
[RIGHT]
Three craftspeople -- Mary, Albert, and he
-- made the accessory for Jerry.
The
phrase
"Mary, Albert, and he" is in apposition to "craftspeople,"
the subject of the sentence.
[RIGHT] The
accessory was made by three craftspeople, Mary, Albert, and him.
The
phrase "Mary, Albert, and him" is still in apposition to the noun
"craftspeople," but that noun has become the object of
the preposition "by," so the pronoun "him" is in the object
case.
[RIGHT] The
three craftspeople involved were Mary, Albert, and she.
The
pronoun "she" is part of the subject complement, so it is in the
subject case.
"Us" and "we" before
a Noun
A
first-person plural
pronoun used with a noun takes the case of
the noun. If the noun functions as a subject, the pronoun should be in the
subject case; if the noun functions as an object, the pronoun should be in the
object case:
We rowdies left the restaurant late.
The
restaurant owner mumbled at all us
slow eaters.
Using 'than' or 'as' in a Comparison
In
elliptical comparisons, where the writer has left some words out of a sentence,
the case of the pronoun at the end of the sentence determines its meaning. When
a sentence ends with a subjective pronoun, the
pronoun must serve as the subject of the omitted verb. When a sentence ends
with an objective pronoun, the
pronoun must serve as the object of the omitted verb:
Elliptical
Ruth likes
Jerry better than I.
Complete
Ruth likes
Jerry better than I like Jerry.
Elliptical
Ruth likes
Jerry better than me.
Complete
Ruth likes
Jerry better than she likes me.
Prepared by SANN RAKSMEY.
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