Lecture
Notes
Proofreading for Pronoun
Errors
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FOUR
COMMON
PRONOUN
ERRORS
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Review of p. 327-28:
THE RULE: Pronouns must refer clearly to an antecedent.
Explanation:
This rule means that—
-
if you can't figure out what the pronoun refers to, you need to rewrite
the sentence without using the pronoun at all.
-
it is better to repeat a noun for clarity than to use a pronoun that has
an ambiguous meaning.
Proofreading Tip #1: Watch Out for All
3rd-Person Pronouns!
If you find one of these pronouns, make sure that it refers clearly
to only one antecedent:
-
he, him, his
-
she, her
-
it, its
-
they, them, their
When you find one, trace backwards through the sentence to make sure that
the pronoun refers to only one antecedent. If you find more than
one possible antecedent or no antecedent at all, then rewrite the sentence
without the pronoun.
Error: After drying your dog with a towel, drop it
in the washing machine.
Discussion: It may
refer to either the dog or the towel. You should delete it
and replace it with a noun.
Correction: After drying your dog with a towel, drop the
towel in the washing machine.
Error: On the menu it says
that the chili is homemade.
Discussion: It may
refer to the menu;
but then the sentence doesn't make sense, for in essence it would be saying,
"On the menu, the menu says that the chili is homemade," as if there were
a menu on the menu.. You should rewrite the sentence without it.
Correction 1: The menu says that the chili is homemade.
Correction 2: According to the menu, the chili is homemade.
Proofreading Tip #2: Watch Out for This
and That! (the demonstrative pronouns)
If you find the pronoun this or that in a sentence (when
the word that is not the first word of an adjective clause), make
sure that this pronoun refers clearly to only one antecedent. As
a pronoun, this is often used to refer to an action or activity.
Make sure that you don't use the pronoun this to refer to a verb;
pronouns must refer to nouns.
Error: Jack just heard that his mother has cancer.
This
made him very angry.
Discussion: Does this
refer to the cancer or to Jack's just now hearing the news? Grammatically,
this
can't refer to heard, a verb in the
past tense. Logically, the news probably made him angry, not the
cancer itself; but the noun news is not in the sentence and so is
not the antecedent.
Correction 1: (Turn the pronoun this into an adjective
by adding the noun news to the sentence.) Jack just heard
that his mother has cancer. This news
made him very angry.
Correction 2: (Drop the this completely and replace
it with the noun.) Jack just heard that his mother has cancer. The
news made him very angry.
Correction 3: (Rewrite the idea completely without any awkward
pronouns.) The moment Jack heard that his mother has cancer, he
became
very angry.
Answers to Exercises
Click HERE to check your answers for the exercises
on using apostrophes.
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