58
sure what it means?
A pronoun should refer back clearly to a noun or pronoun (its antecedent), usually the one nearest to it that matches it in number and, when necessary, gender.
Consumers will buy a Rolex because they covet its snob appeal.
Nancy Pelosi spoke at the news conference instead of Harry Reid because she had more interest in the legislation than he did.
If connections between pronouns and antecedents wobble within a single sentence or longer passage, readers will struggle. The following guidelines can help you avoid three common problems.
Clarify confusing pronoun antecedents. Revise sentences in which readers will find themselves wondering who is doing what to whom. Multiple revisions are usually possible, depending on how the confusing sentence could be interpreted.
| CONFUSING | The batter collided with the first baseman, but he wasn’t injured. |
| BETTER | The batter collided with the first baseman, who wasn’t injured. |
| BETTER | The batter wasn’t injured by his collision with the first baseman. |
Make sure a pronoun has a plausible antecedent. Sometimes the problem is that the antecedent doesn’t actually exist — it is only implied. In these cases, either reconsider the antecedent/pronoun relationship or replace the pronoun with a noun.
| CONFUSING |
Grandmother had hip- |
In the above sentence, the implied antecedent for it is hip, but the noun hip isn’t in the sentence (hip-replacement is an adjective describing surgery).
| BETTER | Grandmother had her hip replaced two months ago, and she is already fully healed. |
| BETTER | Grandmother had hip- |
Be certain that the antecedent of this, that, or which isn’t vague. In the following example, a humble this is asked to shoulder the burden of a writer who hasn’t quite figured out how to pull together all the ideas raised in the preceding sentences. What exactly might the antecedent for this be? It doesn’t exist. To fix the problem, the writer needs to replace this with a more thoughtful analysis.
FINAL SENTENCE VAGUE
The university staff is underpaid, the labs are short on equipment, and campus maintenance is neglected. Moreover, we need two or three new parking garages to make up for the lots lost because of recent construction projects. Yet students cannot be expected to shoulder additional costs because tuition and fees are high already. This is a problem that must be solved.
FINAL SENTENCE CLARIFIED
How to fund both academic departments and infrastructure needs without increasing students’ financial outlay is a problem that must be solved.