March 11, 2010

Weird Antecedents (Pronouns, Part 2 of 5)

After the basics, we now proceed to our next lesson - antecedents.

(1) A pronoun takes the place of a noun. The antecedent is the noun that the pronoun takes the place of or stands for.

Example 1:

I am Alma.
I is a pronoun. Who or what does it stand for? It stands for Alma. The antecedent of I is Alma.

Example 2:

Paolo gave his sister her toys.
His is a pronoun. Who does it stand for? It stands for Paolo, so the antecedent of his is Paolo. The word her is also a pronoun and it stands for sister. The antecedent of her is sister.


(2) The pronoun almost always refers to the noun closest to it. If you put pronouns in peculiar places, it’s hard to tell what the antecedent is. Sometimes sentences can get pretty weird.

Example 1:

WEIRD:
It was too dark and my dog was still outdoors. I grabbed my lamp to begin the search and listened for its bark.
(The antecedent of its appears to be flashlight.)

BETTER:
It was too dark and my dog was still outdoors. I grabbed my lamp to begin the search and listened for Bruiser’s bark.

Example 2:

WEIRD:
While driving it at 160 kph around EDSA, Jun swerved to avoid hitting an old man and landed his car on the sidewalk.
(The pronoun it appears early in this sentence, but we don’t find out what it is until the end of the sentence – and by that time we have an old man and a sidewalk to deal with as well.)

BETTER:
While driving his car at 160 kph around EDSA, Jun swerved to avoid hitting an old man and landed on the sidewalk.

Example 3:

WEIRD:
I’ve been to the Philippines, and I like them because they are very kind to tourists.
(The antecedent has been left out of this sentence. Who are they?)

BETTER:
I’ve been to the Philippines, and I like the Filipinos because they are very kind to tourists.

Attribution to Rebecca Elliot and her book Painless Grammar (c) 2006, 1997

Other Pronoun tips:
Pronoun Basics (Pronouns, Part 1 of 5)
Weird Antecedents (Pronouns, Part 2 of 5)
The Confusing "Him" or "He" (Pronouns, Part 3 of 5)
Subjective or Objective Pronouns (Pronouns, Part 4 of 5)
You... Yes, You. (Pronouns, Part 5 of 5)