The antecedent of a pronoun is the word the pronoun substitutes for. If a pronoun is too far from its antecedent, readers will have trouble making the connection between the two.

Ambiguous antecedents

Readers have trouble when a pronoun can refer to more than one antecedent.

What fell into the water—the car or the bridge? The revision makes the meaning clear.

Reporting Kerry’s words directly, in quotation marks, eliminates the ambiguity.

Vague use of it, this, that, and which

The words it, this, that, and which often function as a shortcut for referring to something mentioned earlier. But such shortcuts can cause confusion. Like other pronouns, each must refer to a specific antecedent.

Indefinite use of you, it, and they

In conversation, we frequently use you, it, and they in an indefinite sense in such expressions as you never know; in the paper, it said; and they say. In academic and professional writing, however, use you only to mean “you, the reader,” and they or it only to refer to a clear antecedent.

Possessive antecedents

A possessive may suggest a noun antecedent but does not serve as a clear antecedent.