Pronouns

Placement & Problems

Making the reference clear

One of the major sources of problems with pronouns is forgetting that a pronoun must usually refer specifically to another word or group of words in the same sentence or a previous sentence. For instance, what does "it" refer to in the following sentence?

Because some teachers are just in it for the big salaries, it doesn't give much encouragement to students who
need a lot of it.

The first "it" refers to the business of teaching, but that is only implied in this sentence. Only the word "teachers" appears, and the first "it" cannot refer to "teachers" because the word is in the wrong form. That is, you cannot say "just in 'teachers' for the big salaries."

The second "it" refers to the entire concept expressed in the first half of the sentence, but that is too vague. Thus this second "it" is grammatically disconnected from the sentence.

The third "it" clearly refers to "encouragement," and that would be okay, except that "it" has already appeared twice in different contexts in this sentence. If you use the same pronoun repeatedly but to refer to different things, the reader gets confused.

Sometimes, the way to fix these problems is simply to put back in the specific words the pronouns are supposed to refer to.

Because some teachers just work for the big salaries, students who need a lot of encouragement don't get it.

It is important to remember that in most cases, a pronoun must refer to the same form of a word that is actually in the sentence.

My father is an engineer, but I'm not really interested in it. (Incorrect)

Interested in what? You cannot say "interested in engineer," and the word "engineering" does not appear in the sentence. You could write "engineering," or you could write

... but I'm not really interested in becoming one.

The word "one" does refer specifically to the word "engineer." If you keep this concept in mind--that pronouns must usually refer to something specific--you will avoid many pronoun problems.

Gender

A problem with pronouns that has recently been introduced into the language (as if there weren't enough already) involves gender. We used to write:

A doctor cannot be expected to remember each of his patients by name.

The sentence refers to doctors in general, but some readers may interpret your use of the pronoun "he" to suggest that you think of doctors as male. To correct this, some writers choose to use both the masculine and feminine pronouns:

A doctor cannot be expected to remember his or her patients by name.

but this can get awkward, especially if you use it frequently. Another way to deal with this problem is to avoid it altogether by rewriting the sentence in a way that doesn't require a pronoun at all.

A doctor cannot be expected to remember every patient by name.

But perhaps the easiest solution is to make all general nouns plural.

Doctors cannot be expected to remember their patients by name.

Whatever you do, avoid using the "slashed" terms of he/she, him/her, etc.

A doctor cannot be expected to remember his/her patients by name. (Awful)

When in doubt, remember that the clarity of your sentence should determine the words you choose -- and that it is still acceptable to use masculine pronouns as "gender-neutral". In context, the words "he", "him" and "his" can refer to an unnamed male or female. If using the plural will make your sentence awkward or unclear -- and if you believe your reader won't misinterpret the context -- feel free to use the generic masculine pronoun.

Consistency

Another major problem with pronouns results from lack of consistency in agreement, number and person. Here's a sentence where the pronoun and the antecedent (the noun it stands for) don't match:

Sometimes a student gets so far behind that they simply can't catch up. (Incorrect)

"Student" is singular; "they" is plural. You could change "they" to "he or she," but, as mentioned above, that can get awkward. It is usually better to make the noun plural--"students"--and keep the pronoun "they."

The following sentence is inconsistent since it starts with "we" to refer to students and then shifts to "you" and "your." Avoid shifts between "I," "you," "we," "they" and "one."

We get so tired of listening to him drone on about this stuff that you want to fall out of your chair. (Incorrect)
No one should have to take this kind of punishment, nor should we have to do this much work. (Incorrect)
I often enjoy skipping class on Monday morning, but then later you start feeling guilty. (Incorrect)

A related problem involves collective nouns, such as team, committee, family, class, etc. These nouns are usually, but not always, treated as singular. Do not use them both ways in the same sentence.

The team has not won a game yet, but they will have one last chance this week. (Incorrect)

The word "has" indicates that "team" is singular, but the pronoun "they" is plural. The easy way to fix this is to write "but it will have ...."

Finally, the following words are singular and take singular pronouns: person, each, neither, either, someone, anyone, no one, one and everybody.

Neither of them are willing to take the blame. (Incorrect)
There are too many students for the teacher to give each one the attention they deserve. (Incorrect)

Pronoun Case

Using pronouns in compound constructions often results in confusion between objective and subjective case pronouns.

His older brother and him liked to ride the porpoises. (Incorrect)
He and his older brother liked to ride the porpoises. (Correct)
She is trying to get you and I in trouble. (Incorrect)
She is trying to get you and me in trouble. (Correct)
The cops were rude to my brother and I. (Incorrect)
The cops were rude to my brother and me. (Correct)

In situations such as above, an easy test is to take out the extra noun and see how it sounds. No one would say "The cops were rude to I." If you apply the same test to the following sentences, you will easily recognize the errors.

Us girls like to hang out at the roller skating rink. (Incorrect) (Us like to hang out ....)
The culprits, Harvey and me, were caught at midnight. (Incorrect) (Me were caught ....)
He tried to ignore you and I. (Incorrect) (He tried to ignore I.)

Sometimes the choice is not so obvious.

The coach will have to decide between you and I. (Incorrect)

Taking out "you" doesn't work as a test case in the above example because the word "between" makes no sense with only one object. However, you can substitute the plural:

The coach will have to decide between us. (Correct)

No one would say "between we." Thus we know the correct pronoun must be in the objective case.

The coach will have to decide between you and me. (Correct)

In fact, since "between" is a preposition, an object must always follow it. "Between you and I" or "between you and she" is never correct.

Pronoun and verb problems

Use possessive pronouns before gerunds (verbs ending in "ing").

Him getting the best grade reflected his hard work. (Incorrect)
His getting the best grade reflected his hard work. (Correct)

Use subjective pronouns with implied verbs.

My brother is taller than me. (Incorrect)
My brother is taller than I. (Correct. Implies "taller than I am.")

Who or whom?

To determine when to use "who" or "whom," keep in mind that "who" is a subject, like "he" or "they." "Whom" is an object, like "him" or "them." Test a sentence by making a substitution. If the sentence is a question, answer the question and make the substitution.

Who/whom is on the phone? He is on the phone. = Who is on the phone? (Correct)
To who/whom should I give this check? You should give this check to him. = To whom should I give this check? (Correct)
Who/whom did the Senate confirm for the post? The Senate confirmed him for the post. = Whom did the Senate confirm for the post? (Correct)

Who/which/that

Whenever possible, refer to people as "who" -- not "which" or "that."

Here is the student that missed all her quizzes. (Awkward)

Here is the student who missed all her quizzes. (Better)