Pronouns:
What is a
pronoun?
Generally,
a pronoun is a word that stands for or refers to a noun already mentioned
earlier in the text.
How does
that work?
Just read
these examples:
-
My friend Meredith
and I are planning on going to the beach this summer. She
wants
to go to the south, but I prefer the north.
She refers
to my friend Meredith, who was mentioned earlier in the text.
-
Daniel plays
the guitar for the UDC jazz ensemble. He has been doing it
for
several years.
It refers
to Daniel's playing for the jazz ensemble.
Rule: a pronoun
must agree in number (singular/plural) , person, and gender to the thing
to which it refers.
We could
not say, therefore, that Daniel has been doing them for several
years, because them does not agree in number with its antecedent
(his playing for the jazz ensemble). It should be: he has been doing it
for
several years.
[Editor's note: When writing
in formal contexts, however, this use of it
is
vague and the expression doing it should
be replaced by playing.]
However, not
all pronouns refer to their antecedents. Let's go back to the examples
on this page:
-
My friend
Meredith and I are
planning on going to the beach this summer. She
wants
to go to the south, but I
prefer
the north.
-
Daniel plays
the guitar for the UDC jazz ensemble. He
has
been doing it
for several years.
On the first
example, my does
not have an antecedent nor does I.
My
is a possesive pronoun and
I is a personal pronoun. Please see the
table below for kinds of pronouns.
KINDS
OF PRONOUNS
LITERARY LINKS
Jane Austen's use of their at
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html
(by Henry Churchyard)
This page was prepared by Paula
Flores.