Displaying top 8 worksheets found for clear pronoun reference. To keep birds from eating seeds, soak them in blue food coloring. Avoid most pronoun reference problems by following these rules. Previous research on pronoun resolution in german revealed that personal pronouns in german tend to refer to the subject or topic antecedents, however, these results are based on studies involving subject personal pronouns. The best solution may be to recast the sentence to omit the pronoun in question. Exercise on vague or unclear pronoun reference with answer. Unclear pronoun reference makes sentences confusing, vague, and difficult to. Worksheets are pronoun reference exercise 5, exercise on vague or unclear pronoun reference with answer, pronoun agreement reference, work for clear pronoun reference, using pronouns correctly pronoun reference, a grammar help handout created by abbie potter henry, pronoun and antecedent agreement, pronoun. Poorly constructed sentences will affect how well your reader understands your ideas. With the spread of globalized capitalism, american universities increasingly follow a corporate fiscal model, tightening budgets and hiring temporary contract employees as teachers. Exercise caution when you have two singular antecedents with the same. More subtle errors occur when you use a pronoun reference that is too general or indefinite or one that only you know. As you polish your writing, pay attention to sentence problems, including errors of agreement, pronoun reference, voice, wordinessvagueness, misplaced elements, and structure.
And often, all of this must be done on the fly, while one is speaking. Last year vince played on the college lacrosse team, but this year he is too busy to play. Sep 12, 2016 faulty pronoun reference is one of the most serious errors in writing because it can keep the reader from understanding your message. Created by shreese williams information from real good grammar, too by mamie hixon revised by mamie webb hixon, september 30, 2010. Collins told jim, his colleague, that he had to stop taking such long lunch breaks.
In one sentence, for example, the pronoun he might mean zippy the dog. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence. The reader cannot be sure whether howard is very angry because. Students simply put the demonstrative pronouns too far away from the antecedents those words are replacing. Faulty pronoun reference is one of the most serious errors in writing because it can keep the reader from understanding your message. A pronouns antecedent is the word to which the pronoun refers. A pronoun must refer to a single noun, which acts as its antecedent. The reference is easy to understand when there is only one noun.
Pronoun reference is the practice of making pronouns refer clearly to the words they replace. Avoiding vague and ambiguous pronoun references vocabulary antecedent the noun which a pronoun substitutes for or refers to. Grammatical role parallelism influences ambiguous pronoun. Making pronoun references clear memorial university. Read your sentences carefully to make sure that all pronoun references are clear. I told uncle richard, aunt gretchen, and then dad, which infuriated gary. To fix the sentence, substitute a noun for the pronoun. Because we cannot tell which of the nouns is the antecedent, this sentence is an unclear pronoun reference outlaw. You can drive a fast car, a red car, a dirty car, or moms car.
This that, these and those test your knowledge on how to use the pronouns i and me. Students will look at sentences and see how the overuse of pronouns could be potentially. Pronoun reference and antecedent agreement its not as bad as it sounds. This is the only possible option as it is the only object pronoun a pronoun that takes the action of the verb invite. Fast, red, and dirty are all adjectives telling us which car. This has prompted faculty and adjunct instructors at many schools to join unions as a way of protecting job security and benefits. Note that in most cases, more than one correct answer is possible.
A pronoun s reference will be unclear if it is ambiguous, implied, vague or indefinite. Jan 29, 2018 here are answers to the editing exercise. In these three sentences, the pronouns refer to the idea that harry was always late, but they cant logically refer back to either of. Pronoun reference 1 high school grammar english pronoun. Jun 11, 20 sometimes it is difficult to understand english sentences because we dont know what word it pronoun is referring to. Writing resources common sentence errors hamilton college. Pronoun reference sentence errors the nature of writing. As the chart shows, it can be tricky to remember which ones are singular and which ones plural. The rule a pronoun must refer to a single noun, which acts as its antecedent. Pronoun reference exercise 1 choose whether the pronoun reference in each of the following sentences is correct or incorrectconfusing. Oftentimes students get caught up in making their sentences as short as possible through substituting pronouns that could confuse the reader.
Nick used to love water skiing and swimming in florida lakes, but now he worries. A possessive noun should not be the antecedent for a pronoun. At the writing centre, you can receive help on any writing assignment. Pronoun reference recognize pronoun reference when you see it. Unclear clear they say that henry viii may have had type ii diabetes. Him or her would also have worked, but not he, she or they. If an antecedent is singular, its pronoun must be singular, too. As a result, the reader cannot know for sure whether kara sold the disk or the cabinet. You must be very careful when using pronouns in order to be sure that your reader understands what your pronoun is referring to. Here is another example of faulty pronoun reference where a pronoun is asked to refer to a whole group of words instead of a clear, single noun antecedent.
Some of the worksheets for this concept are work for clear pronoun reference, making pronoun references clear, exercise on vague or unclear pronoun reference with answer, unclear pronoun reference, using pronouns correctly pronoun reference, pronouns 2 vague or unclear pronoun references, pronoun. Pronoun worksheets and activities ereading worksheets. When using a pronoun to refer to a general idea, make sure that the reference is clear. A pronoun depends on a noun called the pronouns antecedent for meaning. Lizzy told her mother that her sweater had a hole in it. Rseived january 1977 two approaches to the problem of resolving pronoun reference are presented. One must learn to avoid using vague pronouns, or pronouns with unclear antecedents. Pronouns should clearly refer to a specific noun antecedent.
Make sure the antecedent the thing the pronoun refers to is. Exercise caution when you have two singular antecedents with the same gender. In this video, faby teaches you how to clarify and clearly state which now a. This article will discuss two common causes of unclear pronouns and antecedents. Sometimes sentences are structured such that they end up containing pronouns that could refer back to two or more different antecedents. A basic pronouns test for elementary school demonstrative pronouns quiz. Better writing avoiding vague and ambiguous pronoun references. A faulty pronoun reference will result in a muddled sentence and a confused reader. Rules of pronoun reference for hsc in bangla bdclass. The first cause is when there are multiple possible antecedents that a single pronoun could refer to.
Whenever pronouns are used, it should be unmistakably clear which noun the pronoun is standing in for. At our website you will find transcripts to our videos, other learning opportunities, and a. Ambiguous pronoun reference a pronoun with multiple, possible antecedents. I can demonstrate correcting this usage problem using the example above in about five minutes, and it might help some of my students avoid unclear pronoun reference issues. Personal pronouns, pronounantecedent agreement, and vague or. How to correct vague, ambiguous, and unclear pronoun. Unclear antecedents due to multiple possible antecedents. You can enter your answers directly into this document. Historians say that henry viii may have had type ii diabetes. Vague pronoun reference and pronounantecedent disagreement. Revise your writing to avoid these ambiguous references.
Here is another example of faulty pronoun reference caused by more than one noun antecedent. When you fail to confirm that a pronoun has a single, clear antecedent, you lose control of the picture you want the words to create in your readers minds. Unclear pronoun reference, along with a mismatch between the pronoun and its referent or antecedent, the word the pronoun is intended to replace, are issues that frequently cause students trouble. One must learn to identify subjective, objective, and possessive cases. Pronouns are words that stand in for a noun in a sentence. Personal pronouns, pronounantecedent agreement, and vague. The word a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent. Note in the following sentence how unclear pronouns might refer to more than one antecedent, leaving the reader unsure of the writers intended meaning. In the following example, the noun or nouns to which that pronoun might refer are in boldface, and the pronoun is in italics.
I have created many pronoun worksheets, resources, and activities over the years. Common pronouns in the english language include he, she, it, they, we, you, i, that, this, who, and which. Identify the unclear pronoun references in the following paragraph. This lesson should help students make their writing more clear in reference to pronouns. Unclear pronoun reference makes sentences confusing, vague, and difficult to understand. Incorrect it is unclear whether the he refers to mr. In the above example, faulty pronoun reference occurs because the pronoun it has two possible noun antecedents. Make pronouns agree in person and number with their antecedents. Exercise on vague or unclear pronoun reference in the following pairs of sentences, one sentence is correct, and the other sentence contains a vague or ambiguous pronoun reference. Making pronoun references clear pronouns substitute for nouns. To be published in 2011 by cascadilla press rights forms. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or refers back to a noun already mentioned. A pronoun may point back to other items in a text anaphoric reference orless commonlypoint ahead to a later part of the text cataphoric reference.
From this sentence we cannot tell whose children they are. Unclear clear the courtier told the king that he had had an affair with his wife. If youre not careful, several common situations will create unclear pronoun reference. In traditional grammar, a construction in which a pronoun doesnt refer clearly and unambiguously to its antecedent is called faulty pronoun reference. I think mike cruickshanks new profit maximiser service is going to be one of the big hits and i can say hand on heart, if you follow the instructions, and just get involved, you will make a lot of money over the coming weeks, months and years. There are also some expressions where the pronoun does not need to have an antecedent e. While vague pronoun reference can be annoying, so is being obsessive about it. Reword a sentence when a pronoun reference is unclear. It says on the bathroom wall that joe will sell the answers to the pronoun reference quiz for five dollars. Pronoun reference writing associates program swarthmore. Many people a who buy a new puppy believe that the young dog should automatically behave as well as lassie, b who had years of obedience training and c which was a mature animal with control of her bladder. The pronoun it does not have a clear noun antecedent. A lot of pronoun reference problems are caused by indefinite pronouns. For one thing, in speech we tend to be more casual with pronouns.
The following are additional guidelines for making pronoun references clear in your writing. Ambiguous reference an ambiguous reference occurs when the pronoun could refer to two. It, this, and which are pronouns, and they need to refer back to a specific noun, not to the whole idea of a previous statement. Jul 16, 2010 i think mike cruickshanks new profit maximiser service is going to be one of the big hits and i can say hand on heart, if you follow the instructions, and just get involved, you will make a lot of money over the coming weeks, months and years.
Such errors, called faulty or vague pronoun reference, can confuse readers and obscure the intended meaning. Where necessary, rewrite the sentences so that all the pronoun references are clear. Vague pronoun reference and pronoun antecedent disagreement definition. Thc first is a naive algorithm that works by traversing the surface parse trees of. Vague pronoun reference and pronounantecedent disagreement definition. Feel free to use and adapt this lesson as you see fit. Here, them is unclear because it could refer to either. Here are some examples of correct pronoun reference using indefinite pronouns neither, each, and some. This noun is called the pronoun s antecedent unfortunately, it is very easy to create a sentence that uses a pronoun without a clear, unmistakable noun antecedent. The pronoun reference is faulty here because the pronoun it has two antecedents.
Change unclear pronoun reference to clear pronoun reference. I spent today at barnes and noble grading student essays, and by far the most common usage issue i noticed was unclear pronoun reference. I have created many pronoun worksheets, resources, and activities over. Better writing avoiding vague and ambiguous pronoun.
Vague pronoun reference a pronoun without a specific antecedent. If the pronoun reference is clear, the sentence should make sense. You must be very careful when using pronouns in order to be sure that your reader understands what. A pronoun is a word used to stand for or take the place of a noun a pronoun should refer clearly to one, clear, unmistakable noun coming before the pronoun. An unclear pronoun reference occurs when it is not clear which noun a pronoun refers to. If your students have the same issue, you might find this lesson helpful. Ensure clarity in your writing by making pronoun antecedents absolutely clear and obvious. Revise the following sentences by eliminating the ambiguous pronoun reference. A pronouns reference will be unclear if it is ambiguous, implied, vague or indefinite. I plan to do a minilesson on unclear pronoun reference when i hand back the papers. Worksheets are pronoun reference exercise 5, exercise on vague or unclear pronoun reference with answer, pronoun agreement reference, work for clear pronoun reference, using pronouns correctly pronoun reference, a grammar help handout created by abbie potter henry, pronoun and antecedent agreement, pronoun antecedent. Bcs english classification of pronoun english grammar rules hsc english 2nd paper pronoun reference hsc english grammar practice pronoun reference 10 minute school hsc pronoun reference exercises with answers hsc pronoun reference for hsc exam pronoun reference for hsc in bangla pdf pronoun reference rules in bangla pdf pronoun reference. It can make your writing stronger by discussing it with someone else. We report a visual world eyetracking study that investigated the impact of the word order and grammatical role parallelism on the online comprehension of pronouns.
In this video, faby teaches you how to clarify and clearly state which now a pronouns is referencing. A pronoun depends on a noun called the pronoun s antecedent for meaning. Whenever there is the possibility that the antecedent of a pronoun may not be immediately and absolutely clear, repeat the appropriate. A pronoun s antecedent is the word to which the pronoun refers. Displaying all worksheets related to pronoun reference. The pronouns used frequently in this way are this, that, which, and it. Unclear pronoun reference you want to write a sentence as clean as a bone.
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