Pronoun Reference

AMBIGUOUS REFERENCES

Sometimes sentences are structured such that they end up containing pronouns that could refer back to two or more different antecedents. Revise your writing to avoid these ambiguous references.

UNCLEAR: Jane told Ruth that her roommate is a nightmare.

In this example, it's impossible to tell whose roommate we're talking about. Jane could be telling Ruth that Jane's roommate is awful, or she could be telling Ruth that Ruth's roommate is awful. It could be revised as follows:

REVISED: Jane told Ruth, " Your roommate is a nightmare."

Ambiguous references often occur when there are introductory elements in the sentence:

UNCLEAR: When I banged my arm into the glass door, I broke it.

Here it's impossible to tell whether my arm or the glass door broke. It could be revised as follows:

REVISED: I broke my arm when I banged it into the glass door.

BROAD REFERENCES

Often, pronoun references can be too broad to refer back to one obvious antecedent. For clarity, you want to avoid such confusing references.

UNCLEAR: Sometimes my boss yells at me because of his frustrations with things that have nothing to do with me, and sometimes he's perfectly pleasant. I just sit back and take it.

When reading this sentence, you can probably figure out what it signifies, but a simple revision makes the meaning much more obvious:

REVISED: Sometimes my boss yells at me because of his frustrations with things that have nothing to do with me, and sometimes he's perfectly pleasant. I just sit back and take his unpredictability.

The addition of one word greatly increases the clarity of the sentence without seeming repetitive or taking up too much space. Consider the following example:

UNCLEAR: My best friend is dating a guy who is rude, who treats her badly, who doesn't ever help with anything around the house, and who never thinks about anyone but himself. It's hard for me to watch this.

What does this refer to? More specifically:

REVISED: My best friend is dating a guy who is rude, who treats her badly, who doesn't ever help with anything around the house, and who never thinks about anyone but himself. It's hard for me to watch her suffer as a result of all his bad traits.

IMPLIED REFERENCES

You should never use pronouns to refer to words that are only implied, but not actually stated, in your sentences.

INCORRECT: In Faulkner's Light in August, he writes extensively about race relations and tensions.

Faulkner is working as a possessive adjective here, not a noun, so using he to mean Faulkner is referring to an implied antecedent. You could revise it as follows:

CORRECTED: In Light in August, Faulkner writes extensively about race relations and tensions.

In this example it's much clearer whom you're talking about. Also consider the following example:

INCORRECT: When the dog gave birth, the family chose one.

Even though we can assume what the family is choosing, the sentence doesn't actually name what was born. Revise the sentence:

CORRECTED: When the dog gave birth, the family chose a puppy.