A pronoun should refer to a person, place or thing in the immediate context. Make sure that your pronouns refer clearly to their antecedents or referents. Ambiguous reference an ambiguous reference occurs when the pronoun could refer to two. Vague pronouns confuse your reader incorrect pronoun. A pronoun is a word that refers to or takes the place of a noun. In writing, one should avoid unclear statements to ensure that your ideas are understood.
Having to read a sentence multiple times to get your meaning will not only annoy himher but will perhaps cost you a few points if you. A pronoun is a part of speech that can replace a noun. Exercise on vague or unclear pronoun reference with answer. Vague pronoun reference and pronounantecedent disagreement definition. The writer counted the frequency of occurrences of vague pronouns in each essay. Harry was always late for class, and it drove his teacher crazy. Select the best correction to the provided sentence. To avoid vague pronouns and pronoun shifts, the writer. Write the letter v next to the sentence that has a vague pronoun reference.
What happens when you have a vague pronoun reference is the noun of representation is not clear. By definition, pronouns, which take the place of a noun, cannot refer to an idea expressed in an entire sentence or statement. 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. Pronouns are words that take the place of common and proper nouns in a sentence. Avoiding vague pronoun references practice write your answers on the lines and then print this page. C high degree of skill in stone a masonry was shown by them. Examples of pronouns include i, we, you, he, she, it, they, who, me, you. A vague pronoun reference is not as complicated as the words sound. That is, a pronoun is misused when the real noun to which it refers has not actually been mentioned.
The government should not be permitted to regulate gay or lesbian marriage because it is. Ensure clarity in your writing by making pronoun antecedents absolutely clear and obvious. It is not yet clear how the drug raprime affects the body. Avoid vague and unclear words, such as good and nice. A faulty pronoun reference will result in a muddled sentence and a confused reader. Vague pronouns writing lab revision module by arik. A pronouns reference will be unclear if it is ambiguous, implied, vague or indefinite. The highlighted words represent vague pronouns because a reader cannot tell which noun the pronoun is referring to in each example. Every pronoun you write should refer clearly and unmistakably to one.
Bll showed a high degree of skill a in stone masonry. A pronoun must refer to a single noun, which acts as its antecedent. Vague pronoun reference vague college of the mainland. Vague pronouns confuse your reader by brian smith one of the worst things you can do as a writer is confuse your reader.
No matter how simple this seems, getting students to understand and be able to apply this knowledge is not always so easy. Vague pronouns proper case of pronouns recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in pronoun number and person use punctuation e. You can improve your writing a lot by taking care not to use vague pronoun references. Making pronoun references clear pronouns substitute for nouns. Avoiding vague pronoun references macmillanmcgrawhill. Indefinite pronouns do not point to a specific person or thing. If a pronoun seems to refer to more than one antecedent, either reword the sentence to make the antecedent clear or eliminate the pronoun. Examples of problematic writing by erica bender, ph. All of the writers described the location except kara and he, him, himself. Sometimes authors get into the habit of using the pronouns this, that, it, or which to refer to a noun or clause called an antecedent in the previous sentence using these pronouns is not necessarily wrongas long as the reference is clear. Sometimes, a careless writer can use a pronoun that leaves us wondering who, what or where we are talking about.
This page is a resource for doctor wheelers students in composition and literature. If youre seeing this message, it means were having trouble loading external resources on our website. These simple words can cause readers great confusion, even when technically used properly. The word a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent.
Avoiding vague and ambiguous pronoun references vocabulary antecedent the noun which a pronoun substitutes for or refers to. A pronouns antecedent is the word to which the pronoun refers. Harry was always late for class, which drove his teacher crazy. A pronoun for example, he she, him, they substitutes for its noun antecedent noun a noun is a word that. Correcting vague pronouns lesson 6 curriculum ssociates llc coying is not ermitted 242 l6 correcting ague ronouns 1 a they showed skill in stone masonry to a high degree. Vague pronouns connors writing center dimond library 329.
Take all the spoiled meat out of the refrigerator, and move it out of the house. Remember that the purpose of all your writing assignments, including the midterm and final exams, is to evaluate that you 1 have done the work and 2 understand the material. Harry was always late for class, and this drove his teacher crazy. In this module, we discuss the importance of having clear antecedents for your pronouns, and we practice specific strategies for revising sentences with vague pronouns. Cate hoppes and maverick wagley present vague pronoun references and a guide on how to revise them. This oneweek miniunit consists of two engaging instructional videos, a daily bellwork routine, a practice activity, and a quiz. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, gender, and person. Once the drafts are passed back, i ask all students to secure a highlighter and highlight all pronouns. Relative pronouns usually come directly after the words they relate to. Life in newtons time was short, cruel, and brutish.
This noun is called the pronouns antecedent unfortunately, it is very easy to create a sentence that uses a pronoun without a clear, unmistakable noun antecedent. Whenever pronouns are used, it should be unmistakably clear which noun the pronoun is standing in for. Writing clear sentences avoiding ambiguous this long beach. Writers use pronouns in place of nouns to prevent the repetition of words. Better writing avoiding vague and ambiguous pronoun. To avoid vague pronouns and pronoun shifts, the writer should make sure that all pronouns 4. Writers that endeavor their work for complete clarity steer clear of vague pronouns because they can commonly confuse readers. Vague pronoun reference a pronoun without a specific antecedent.
Pronouns are words that stand in for a noun in a sentence. Richard nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and english at georgia southern university and the author of several universitylevel grammar and composition textbooks. One culprit of this problem is incorrect pronoun references. 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. When you begin a sentence with it, this, that, or which, make sure that your audience will understand the antecedent of these pronouns. End slide includes an activity to practice correcting sentences containing vague pronouns. Making pronoun references clear memorial university. Vague pronoun reference sometimes faulty pronoun reference occurs, not because there are too many nouns possibly being referred to, but because there is none. The indefinite pronouns some, none, all, most, and any can be singular or plural depending on the meaning of the sentence. When a writer uses a relative pronoun to introduce a dependent idea, the writer needs to make sure the correct verb is used.
Vague pronoun reference encountered in the compositions. This exercise will give you practice in correcting errors in pronoun reference. This video is based on clarify vague pronoun references by joe moxley and licensed by a cc byncnd 3. Use a singular pronoun to refer to a singular indefinite pronoun. Improve your language arts knowledge with free questions in identify vague pronoun references and thousands of other language arts skills. Examples of problematic writing being too vaguegeneral. A valuepriced option that delivers highquality instruction at an affordable price the readingwriting connection is strong throughout the book, with paragraph samples from professional and student writers in the rhetorical mode chapters and sixteen additional readings, including several written by students, at the back of the book extended coverage on the most common sentencelevel. If youre behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains. Here are a few fun ideas for teaching pronouns in the. Often they are used incorrectly and create faulty or vague pronoun reference problems. The researcher analyzed the data by searching for paragraphs which contain vague pronouns. Often, my feedback will say things like, make sure you listen carefully during todays lesson, you have a few paragraphs that feature vague pronouns. A vague pronoun reference might include words such as it, that, this, and which, and can leave the reader wondering what or to whom the pronoun. When using many pronouns in a single sentence, some writers will mistakenly shift pronouns from one form to another.
The issue i see most often in student writing is the use of a pronoun which does not refer to one specific noun. Candidate in sociology, uc san diego being too vaguegeneral with course material why avoid it. See more ideas about pronoun activities and teaching language arts. To avoid vague pronouns and pronoun shifts, the writer should make sure that all pronouns see answers 1 ask for details. This shifting can be confusing for readers, especially whenever the writer uses the pronoun one to suggest a hypothetical person. Ambiguous pronoun reference a pronoun with multiple, possible antecedents. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Subjective case pronouns are used for the subject of a sentence or for the noun subject. To repair the faulty pronoun reference this rephrase the sentence to eliminate the pronoun. When a writer does not know who performed the action in the sentence, the writer can still write a grammatically correct sentence by.
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