Pronouns

Note TDK s appalling pronoun use. Actually, niether TDK nor Strike can be held accountable because this was written by someone else who addresses the audience in a normal way. That aside, look what happened in that account. Seems like the traditional reagent proportions of PdClj and others may have been overkill. Given enough time to react, very small amounts of PdCb can do the job just fine. That certainly makes a difference in one s wallet ... 

And it would certainly be illegal if Merlin had actually done the procedure she next describes. Aside of the unsatisfactory pronoun use, Merlin s accounting is astonishing ... 

Perhaps an explanation should be offered here for my use of he throughout the book in referring to the person in charge of daily laboratory operation. This pronoun is used in its traditional sense to refer to either a man or a woman. The newer he or she, while more accurate, considering the many women in charge of laboratories today, is also more cumbersome and has been avoided for that reason. 

Pronouns should be used only when it is certain to whom they refer. 

Another common mistake that interferes with clarity is the use of unclear pronoun references. Pronouns, such as me, you, he, and she, replace nouns. Consider these two cases ... 

Whose car His could mean either Ted s or Fred s. The writer needs to use a proper name instead of the pronoun in order to eliminate the possibility the reader will not understand him or her. Write instead Ted picked Fred and me up for school each morning, so we could all go together. 

This is a common pronoun error using a vague they when there are specific people behind an action, but the writer does not know exactly who those people are. Even without that information, you can revise it to be more precise The publishing company considered publishing our poems in their anthology. 

Check your pronouns Is it absolutely clear to whom or what they refer ... 

That a pronoun that introduces a restrictive (or essential)... 

Some parts of speech are more difficult than others. The four most challenging ones as they pertain to your essay are pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. They will be clarified here, along with usage explanations and examples. If you feel your writing would benefit from a more in-depth review of grammar, go to Appendix A for websites and print resources that contain grammar lessons, practice exercises, and quizzes to reinforce the basics. 

Pronouns refer back to or take the place of nouns. They should ... 

Agree in number (a singular pronoun must be used for a singular noun). 

Don t switch back and forth in your writing from the first person (/) to the second (you) or third (he, she, they, it). First person pronouns I, me, we, us Second person pronoun you... 

Be a specific reference to a noun. It should be obvious to your reader which noun the pronoun refers to. 

Adjectives describe or modify nouns or pronouns. They add information by describing people, places, or things in a sentence. These words, more than any others, make your essay a unique piece. You can use them to describe people, objects, and situations to make the reader understand your point of view and see things the way you have seen them. Too few adjectives will make a personal statement a boring play-by-play that doesn t tell the reader anything about the writer. 

Prepositions are connecting words that link a noun or pronoun to another word in a sentence. They are often used to show a relationship of space or time. For example ... 

Possessive pronouns never have apostrophes, even though some may end in s ... 

Understand and avoid the common usage errors involving pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. 

Pronouns (words such as I, we, them, and her) take the place of nouns. They should only be used when the noun to which they refer (known as the antecedent) is obvious and meaningful. Check the pronouns in your writing to be certain they are not one of the following ... 

This common pronoun error is known as an expletive They is useless, because it appears to refer to no one. If the writer has that information, he or she can revise the sentence to be more precise The newspaper frequently has articles about the dangers of global warming. If there is truly no they, the sentence should be revised by eliminating it There is much talk about the dangers of global warming. 

Notice how each sentence begins with a noun or pronoun, followed by a verb. The rhythm created by this repetition is boring. A successful edit should vary the sentences ... 

Wordiness and ambiguity often prevent ideas from coming across clearly. Edit your sentences to eliminate clutter and unnecessary repetition. Revise sentences that use overly informal or overused words, and exchange the passive voice for the active. Clarify ambiguous words and unclear pronoun references. Finally, improve your writing by using precise modifiers and adding variety to your sentence structure. 

Try writing some bad sentences. Use unnecessary words and repetition, jargon, pretentious words, unclear pronoun references, and ambiguous words. Avoid exact words and phrases, and repeat the same sentence structure. By trying to write poorly, you ll get a better sense of what to avoid in your writing. 

Agreement refers to the balance of sentence elements such as subjects and verbs and pronouns and antecedents. (An antecedent is the noun a pronoun replaces.) To agree, singular subjects require singular verbs, and plural subjects require plural verbs. Likewise, singular nouns can be replaced only by singular pronouns, and plural nouns require plural pronouns. 

Most of these errors are easy to spot. If you mistype The scientists was working on an important experiment, you (or, possibly, your grammar-check program) will catch it. But problems arise when a phrase or phrases separate the subject and verb or noun and pronoun. Here s an example ... 

In the following paragraphs, we use the pronoun she when referring to the interviewer and the pronoun he when referring to the witness. This is for convenience of reference only and no gender preference is implied. 

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