HFCC
Writing Improvement
Tutorials
Courtesy of Rick Bailey, A.D.
English Instructor
Speakers and writers use pronouns to avoid repetition. Simply put, pronouns take the place of other nouns. "I drove my car to school today. My car acted up on the freeway. My car's ignition system failed." To avoid awkward, repetitive expression like this, a writer substitutes pronouns for "my car." "I drove my car to school today. It acted up on the freeway. Its ignition system failed."
Examples: The connection between a pronoun and the word it substitutes for is called reference. The word it substitutes for is called its antecedent. A pronoun refers to an antecedent. The pronoun and its antecedent agree when both are singular or both are plural.
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People don't necessarily have to be school smart to be intelligent. They can have practical knowledge they get from experience in the world.
People (plural antecedent)
They (plural pronoun)
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My cousin sets up auto shows so people can come and look at cars. She travels around the world and talks to many different people.
My cousin (Singular antecedent)
She (singular pronoun)
Examples: Indefinite pronouns. A whole class of pronouns, such as everyone, someone, anybody, and everybody, sound as if they are plural. In spoken English, people frequently use plural pronouns with these terms. These terms sound plural, while they are clearly singular in meaning. SomeONE. EveryONE. In order for pronouns and antecedents to agree in this case, a singular pronoun is required.
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Someone parked their car right next to a fire hydrant. (One driver, their car?)
Someone parked his car right next to the fire hydrant.
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Everyone brought their lunch with them on the trip to the museum. (Each individual brought a lunch; in the sentence, "their lunch" sounds like one giant lunch.)
All the students brought their lunch with them on the trip to the museum.
In these cases, to make the antecedent and pronoun agree, change either the pronoun or the antecedent, whichever sounds better.
Examples: Pronouns and Gender. In most situations today, "someone" can be either male or female. "Someone parked his car right next to a fire hydrant." "Someone parked her car right next to a fire hydrant." Some speakers and writers will use both feminine and masculine pronouns in this context. "Someone parked his or her car right next to a fire hydrant." His or her can become awkward if there are multiple instances within a paragraph. In such cases, use her in a few sentences, then shift to his. Or, better yet, change the antecedent so that it is plural and use plural pronouns.
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Everyone showed up early for their pottery class. They brought old clothes to wear, in case the work got messy and muddy water dripped on them. Some people brought old shoes, too, so any clay that dropped on the floor would not get stuck in the soles of their good shoes.
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All the students showed up early for their pottery class. They brought old clothes to wear, in case the work got messy and muddy water dripped on them. Some people brought old shoes, too, so any clay that dropped on the floor would not get stuck in the soles of their good shoes.
Read the above explanations again--twice--and proceed to Exercise 1.
HFCC