Pronoun Usage

Pronoun Errors

Now let us go back to elementary school…a noun is a word for a person, place or thing…a pronoun is the word that takes the place of a noun. Seems simple enough…but these little words are tricky buggers.

Pronouns help you avoid repetition, create unity, add emphasis, and combine sentences gracefully.

Pronoun errors are the most common type of error in the Identifying Sentence Error section on the SAT…so when you see a pronoun…perk up those ears and watch out.

Be careful of just hoping to “hear” the pronoun error because we unfortunately butcher the English language when speaking so it may sound right, but not conform to standard English, so double check your rules.

Pronoun Agreement

This is the most common of the pronoun errors. Pronouns must agree in number with the noun they replace

or refer to. Plural noun=plural pronoun…simple, right? Not true, because again the spoken language fights with

standard English. When speaking we often say that “someone lost their shoe”, because we are afraid of leaving out a gender by saying “someone lost his (her) shoe” and we are too lazy to say the correct “someone lost his or her shoe”.

But “their” is not correct because someone is singular and “their” is a plural pronoun.

Pronoun Agreement Example

 Even though some possess the flexibility to change their

A

opinions, most people  vary in  his or her willingness to

B C

listen  to reason.   No error 

D E

Pronoun Agreement

In this sentence, the problem is with (C), the phrase his or her. The second clause in this sentence begins with the plural noun people; therefore, a plural pronoun must be used to refer to that plural noun. His or her is singular. This is a case in which their is correct, and his or her is incorrect.

You’ll get into trouble if you’re reading quickly and thus fail to make sure that the pronoun matches up with the noun it’s replacing, so read quickly but carefully.

Pronoun Case

Case refers to the function that word is performing in the sentence. For pronouns there are two cases, objective and subjective.

These cases refer to the subject of a sentence versus the object of the sentence. When a pronoun replaces a noun, the pronoun must match that noun’s case.Subjective Case Pronouns Objective Case Pronouns

I Me

You You

He, She, It Him, Her, It

We Us

They Them

Who Whom

Pronoun Case

The writing test writers will try to give you case errors in a tricky manner, they will usually combine them into phrases like “her and her cats” or “him and his friends”. But don’t be fooled, just because the first pronoun is a certain case doesn’t mean the second one must be the same; they are often performing different tasks.

A good strategy to help decide if a pronoun is in its proper case is to throw out each side of the phrase and try it out on its own. For example, take “her and her family like to stay”. “Her likes to stay” and “Her family likes to stay” would be the resulting sentences (and don’t forget to change the verb from plural to singular, otherwise it all sounds off).

We can tell at first listen that “Her likes to stay” is way off and that “She likes to stay” would be correct. So we would have to choose the option that makes the first “her” incorrect.

Pronoun Case Another tricky pairing of pronoun case issues that those

pesky SAT writers throw at you is the “…and me” or “…and I” hoping that nobody knows how to use these correctly. So be on alert when you see those combinations, they aren’t always wrong, but pay close attention to them and use the same strategy we discussed above.

Incorrect Examples: Me and her had a great time.

Me…had a great time. People have been very kind to my friend and I.

…very kind to…I. Corrected Examples:

She and I had a great time. People have been very kind to my friend and me.

Pronouns Referring to Pronouns

Some pronouns don’t refer to a specific person, place, or thing. So these are called indefinite pronouns. Here’s a list of indefinite pronouns for people:

Everyone Someone Each

Everybody Somebody Every

Anyone No one Either

AnybodyNobody Neither All these indefinite pronouns are singular, so they present

a special challenge. For example, which word (their, his, or her) should refer to everyone in the following sentence? Everyone in the class has done ________???_________ homework.

Did you answer their? The plural word is a common choice, but it creates some problems. Remember that everyone is grammatically singular (its verb is does), even though it seems like a plural.

Pronouns Referring to Collective Nouns

Pronouns referring to collective nouns can give your trouble. A collective noun—a team, a band, an audience—represents a group of people or things, and almost all collective nouns are singular. Make sure the verb form you choose agrees in number.

Example: The team has already won more games than it (not they) won

all last year.

Ambiguous Pronouns?

Ambiguity means something of doubtful meaning, so an ambiguous pronoun is one whose meaning (or reference) is unclear and doubtful. Because a pronoun often replaces—or refers back to—a noun, your readers need to know which noun.

The word or words a pronoun refers back to are called antecedents.

If you can’t figure out who a “he”, “she” or “it” refers to easily, then that pronoun is ambiguous and incorrect.

Example: Dylan told his father that he had been wrong.

What does he refer to in the sentence. The answer can be either Dylan or his father, so the sentence needs to be revised.

Examples of antecedents and the pronouns that go with them:

Antecedent

Pronoun Possessive before noun

Possessive

The team It Its game Its

A person He or she; him or her

His or her book

His or hers

John and I We our car Ours

John and me

Us Our car Ours

John and she

They Their party

Theirs

John and her

Them Their party

Theirs

Ambiguous Pronoun Example

Sarah told Emma that she  had a serious foot odor

A B

problem,  and that medicated spray  might help.  No error 

C D E

My question is…who has the smelly feet? If you can’t answer that from reading the sentence…then that pronoun is wrong.

Pronoun Shift

A sentence should start, continue and end with the same kind of pronoun…concrete rule. A pronoun shift is what happens when someone breaks that rule because they start with a singular and end with a plural…catch it? If you start talking about “one”, you have to continue to talk about “one” for the rest of the sentence. One also can’t start with a subjective case and then you end with an objective case.

Special Pronouns – Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns reflect back to their subjects like mirrors or repeat (not replace) a subject or object for emphasis. Example: Albert ate seven whole pizzas, but I myself had only

three.

Here’s a full list of these pronouns: Notice that the singular pronouns end in –self, while the plural

pronouns end in –selves. Singular Plural

First Person Myself Ourselves

Second Person

Yourself Yourselves

Third Person Himself (not hisself)

Herself

Itself

Themselves (not theirselves)

Special Pronouns – Demonstrative Pronouns

The pronouns this/that and these/those actually make nouns more specific. They’re called demonstrative words because they demonstrate what you’re discussing. They serve as demonstrative adjectives before nouns (this woman, that story, these women, those stories) and as demonstrative pronouns by themselves (this is a nice place, but that is not).

In general, use this or these to refer to things physically close and that or those to refer to things farther away—whether they’re subjects or objects. Singular Plural

This These

That Those

Special Pronouns – Relative Pronouns

When you use relative pronouns, which begin relative clauses, to refer to people, there are two choices: who and whom. The first choice, who serves as the subject: Please return this snake to the person who lent it to you. The man who lent the snake to me took my skunk in exchange.

Use whom in a clause as an object when the pronoun directly follows a preposition: Mr. Slither was the man from whom you borrowed the snake. Whom did he fire last week?

Quick Review

True / False1. Case refers to the way a noun or pronoun changes, depending

on how it is used in a sentence.

2. Use reflexive pronouns in place of subjects and objects.

3. A pronoun must clearly refer to a single, definite antecedent. Completion Questions

1. Eric and (I, me) have decided to move to Brazil.

2. Those (whom, who) are early to bed and early to rise are healthy, wealthy, and very tired.

3. The thunderstorm frightened my cat and (I, me).

Answers

T/F1. T

2. T

3. T Completion

1. I

2. Who

3. Me