A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun, known as the antecedent of the pronoun. The key point for the use of pronouns is this:
• Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in both number (singular or plural) and person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd).
Example:
Steve has yet to receive his degree.
Here, the pronoun his refers to the noun Steve.
Following is a list of the most common pronouns:
• A pronoun should be plural when it refers to two nouns joined by and.
Example:
Jane and Katarina believe they passed the final exam.
The plural pronoun they refers to the compound subject Jane and Katarina.
• A pronoun should be singular when it refers to two nouns joined by or or nor.
Faulty Usage
Neither Jane nor Katarina believes they passed the final.
Correct
Neither Jane nor Katarina believes she passed the final.
• A pronoun should refer to one and only one noun or compound noun.
This is probably the most common pronoun error. If a pronoun follows two nouns, it is often unclear which of the nouns the pronoun refers to.
Faulty Usage
The breakup of the Soviet Union has left nuclear weapons in the hands of unstable, nascent countries. It is imperative to world security that they be destroyed.
Although one is unlikely to take the sentence to mean that the countries must be destroyed, that interpretation is possible from the structure of the sentence. It is easily corrected:
The breakup of the Soviet Union has left nuclear weapons in the hands of unstable, nascent countries. It is imperative to world security that these weapons be destroyed.
In Somalia, they have become jaded by the constant warfare.
This construction is faulty because they does not have an antecedent. The sentence can be corrected by replacing they with people:
In Somalia, people have become jaded by the constant warfare.
Better:
The people of Somalia have become jaded by the constant warfare.
• In addition to agreeing with its antecedent in number, a pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person.
Faulty Usage
One enters this world with no responsibilities. Then comes school, then work, then marriage and family. No wonder, you look longingly to retirement.
In this sentence, the subject has changed from one (third person) to you (second person). To correct the sentence either replace one with you or vice versa:
You enter this world with no responsibilities. Then comes school, then work, then marriage and family. No wonder, you look longingly to retirement.
One enters this world with no responsibilities. Then comes school, then work, then marriage and family. No wonder, one looks longingly to retirement.
In each of the following sentences, part or all of the sentence is underlined. The answer-choices offer five ways of phrasing the underlined part. If you think the sentence as written is better than the alternatives, choose A, which merely repeats the underlined part; otherwise choose one of the alternatives. Answers begin on page 142.
1. Had the President’s Administration not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.
(A) Had the President’s Administration not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.
(B) If the Administration had not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.
(C) Had the President’s Administration not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, it would have been rated an A.
(D) Had the President’s Administration not lost the vote on its budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.
(E) If the President had not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, the Administration’s first year in office would have been rated an A.
2. The new law requires a manufacturer to immediately notify their customers whenever the government is contemplating a forced recall of any of the manufacturer’s products.
(A) to immediately notify their customers whenever the government is contemplating a forced recall of any of the manufacturer’s products.
(B) to immediately notify customers whenever the government is contemplating a forced recall of their products.
(C) to immediately, and without delay, notify its customers whenever the government is contemplating a forced recall of any of the manufacture’s products.
(D) to immediately notify whenever the government is contemplating a forced recall of any of the manufacturer’s products that the customers may have bought.
(E) to immediately notify its customers whenever the government is contemplating a forced recall of any of the manufacturer’s products.
3. World War II taught the United States the folly of punishing a vanquished aggressor; so after the war, they enacted the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany.
(A) after the war, they enacted the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany.
(B) after the war, the Marshall Plan was enacted to rebuild Germany.
(C) after the war, the Marshall Plan was enacted by the United States to rebuild Germany.
(D) after the war, the United States enacted the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany.
(E) after the war, the United States enacted the Marshall Plan in order to rebuild Germany.
4. In the 1950’s, integration was an anathema to most Americans; now, however, most Americans accept it as desirable.
(A) to most Americans; now, however, most Americans accept it as desirable.
(B) to most Americans, now, however, most Americans accept it.
(C) to most Americans; now, however, most Americans are desirable of it.
(D) to most Americans; now, however, most Americans accepted it as desirable.
(E) to most Americans. Now, however, most Americans will accept it as desirable.
5. Geologists in California have discovered a fault near the famous San Andreas Fault, one that they believe to be a trigger for major quakes on the San Andreas.
(A) one that they believe to be a trigger for
(B) one they believe to be a trigger for
(C) one that they believe triggers
(D) that they believe to be a trigger for
(E) one they believe acts as a trigger for
6. A bite from the tsetse fly invariably paralyzes its victims unless an antidote is administered within two hours.
(A) its victims unless an antidote is administered
(B) its victims unless an antidote can be administered
(C) its victims unless an antidote was administered
(D) its victims unless an antidote is administered to the victims
(E) its victims unless they receive an antidote