This month’s look at pronouns will help us create sentences with clear pronoun/antecedent connections. Your readers will know which nouns your pronouns refer to, and they’ll follow your writing with ease and clarity.
What more could you ask for? Let’s get rolling.
Don’t create ambiguous references
Say you wrote this sentence:
Bob told him that he had won the contest.
Who won the contest? Was it Bob or this mystery “him” person? It’s impossible to know for sure by the way the sentence is written. Here are three ways to fix the sentence, depending on who won the contest:
Bob told him, “I won the contest.”
Bob told him, “You won the contest.”
Bob won the contest and told Jim about it.
Be clear about who is doing what, and make sure your pronouns can’t refer to more than one noun in your sentence.
Making implied references
Do these sentences have any problems?
The stair rail looked bare. After adding garland, Nancy put lights on it as well.
Did Nancy put lights on the garland? That would have to be the assumption based on the sentence. But Nancy actually put the lights on the stair rail. In this case, using “it” as a pronoun for stair rail causes confusion. This would be correct:
The stair rail looked bare. After adding garland, Nancy put lights on the rail as well.
Your pronoun must refer to a specific noun, not to a word implied in the sentence but not actually present in the same sentence.
You assume your reader will follow your “clear” logic. And what happens when we assume? Yep, you know the rest.
Another problem pops up when you try to use a possessive modifier as an antecedent. Here’s an example:
Because of the table’s color, it ruined the look of the room.
Since a pronoun (it) cannot refer to a possessive modifier (table’s), this sentence is incorrect. The logical way to write this sentence is below:
Because of it’s color, the table ruined the look of the room.
That rule may be tough to catch. Do the best you can.
Using this, that, which and it as broad references
The pronouns this, that, which and it are commonly used to broadly reference whole ideas or sentences. I think I’ve done this myself. What’s wrong with it? It can leave ambiguous meaning in its wake.
Every year, food prices rise and make it harder to make nutritious food choices. We continue through our lives, accepting this and taking little action to change it.
Here’s a better way to write this:
Every year, food prices rise and make it harder to make nutritious food choices. We continue through our lives, accepting price increases and taking little action to change them.
Better, right? The meaning is definitely more clear.
Referencing they, it or you indefinitely
The pronoun they seems to be used the wrong way quite often. Our current usage is changing, but here is another rule for using it that will probably stick around.
They should always refer to a specific noun. Don’t use it to refer to persons you have not specifically mentioned.
You might see a list of ways to invest your money with your monthly statement. For example, they suggest investing in bonds if you only have a few years before retirement.
Who is they? This is better:
You might see a list of ways to invest your money with your monthly statement. For example, your wealth manager may suggest investing in bonds if you only have a few years before retirement.
Yes, much better.
Don’t use it in sentences like this:
In the newspaper it says the movie starts at 7:00.
I really hope you don’t do that. Here’s the right way to say the same thing:
The newspaper says the movie starts at 7:00.
Remember when movie times were actually listed in the newspaper? Yeah, me too.
When using the pronoun you, it’s appropriate to use it to address the reader directly. (Good thing, since I use “you” all the time!) However, don’t use you to refer to “anyone in general” except in very informal writing.
In Paris, you won’t find many people who speak English well.
Keep in mind I have never been to Paris and don’t know if this statement is true. This would be a better way to write the same sentence:
In Paris, a person won’t find many people who speak English well.
Make sense? Good.
What’s next?
Next time we’ll look at using pronouns in the proper case. Until then, have a great Thanksgiving!