Most often a reader will try to connect the pronoun. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence he, she, them, it. As a result, the reader cannot know for sure whether kara sold the disk or the cabinet. A pronoun it they youheshewe should have only one possible antecedent the noun that comes before the pronoun the noun the pronoun refers to.
Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. There is no single rule for making pronoun reference clear in all cases. The word a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent. You could fix this either by referring to both women with they, if it is indeed the case that both were honored at the awards ceremony after dinner, or by replacing she with the. In english grammar, reference is the relationship between a grammatical unit usually a pronoun that refers to or stands in for another grammatical unit usually a noun or noun phrase. Such errors, called faulty or vague pronoun reference, can confuse readers and obscure the intended meaning. I suggest referring to a, b, or c directly instead of using the pronoun. Alternatively we can reorder the sentence to avoid an ambiguous relative clause.
Unclear pronoun reference makes sentences confusing, vague, and difficult to. The noun or noun phrase that a pronoun refers to is called the antecedent. Modifiers, such as possessives, cannot serve as antecedents. Ambiguous pronoun reference a pronoun with multiple, possible antecedents. That is, a pronoun is misused when the real noun to which it refers has not actually been mentioned. Test your knowledge of ambiguous pronouns by completing this quiz and worksheet. Pronoun reference recognize pronoun reference when you see it. Weak reference weak reference occurs when a pronoun refers to an antecedent that has not been explicitly stated. I always thought that in a construction like this, the reference is unambiguously the thing that was mentioned.
When samuel dropped the goblet onto the glass table, it broke. An ambiguous pronoun reference can be corrected or avoided in several ways. Previous research on pronoun resolution in german revealed that personal pronouns in german tend to refer to the subject or topic antecedents, however, these results are based on studies involving subject personal pronouns. Sentence problem john put a bullet in his gun and shot it. Indefinite reference the use of a pronoun that refers to no particular person or thing and is unnecessary to the structure and meaning of a sentence. In traditional grammar, a construction in which a pronoun doesnt refer clearly and unambiguously to its antecedent is called faulty pronoun reference. This material is intended for studen avoiding pronoun reference errors authorstream. Ambiguous pronoun reference can be corrected by find answers now.
Open the raster manager and attach the pdf, close raster manager. Jul 25, 2017 previous research on pronoun resolution in german revealed that personal pronouns in german tend to refer to the subject or topic antecedents, however, these results are based on studies involving subject personal pronouns. Avoiding vague and ambiguous pronoun references vocabulary antecedent the noun which a pronoun substitutes for or refers to. Is it ambiguous to whom the pronoun in the following. Here youll first learn all about clear pronoun referenceand ways in which unclear pronoun reference can occur in your writing and speech. Exercise on vague or unclear pronoun reference with answer. Ambiguous reference an ambiguous reference occurs when the pronoun could refer to two. When pronouns like it, this, that, and which are referred to a concept that implied or word rather than a certain following noun. The manual can be used in its entirety, as a desk reference, or by individual pertinent. Nicks hair is so long that this young man really needs to visit a barber before his interview at the bank. Vague and ambiguous pronoun reference by hannah jackson on prezi. You can enter your answers directly into this document. 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.
Ambiguous references sometimes sentences are structured such that they end up containing pronouns that could refer back to two or more different. But when the pronoun refers to multiple antecedents and the sentence and it becomes unclear to which antecedent, this pronoun is referring to, this is called an ambiguous pronoun reference. If the revised sentence does not improve the pronoun reference, choose no improvement was made. Many people a who buy a new puppy believe that the young dog should automatically behave as well as lassie, b who had years of obedience training and c which was a mature animal with control of her bladder. If the pronoun reference is still unclear, replace the pronoun with the actual noun. Basically, the source of confusion is that readers sometimes cannot tell what the pronoun this is referring to. To eliminate ambiguous pronoun references, place the pronoun as close as possible to the noun it is replacing. If you go to my pdf, the professors assignment will be more clear.
However, the word this is also notorious for creating ambiguity, which is why this post explains the ambiguous this and how to avoid it. Childrens use of gesture in ambiguous pronoun interpretation article pdf available in journal of child language 4203. If a pronoun seems to refer to more than one antecedent, either reword the sentence to make the antecedent clear or eliminate the pronoun. The reader cannot be sure whether howard is very angry because. Better writing avoiding vague and ambiguous pronoun.
In the above sentences, henry viii is the antecedent and he is the pronoun. 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. Nick used to love water skiing and swimming in florida lakes, but now he worries. Do you mean contexts in which pronouns are ambiguous. Vague pronoun reference sometimes faulty pronoun reference occurs, not because there are too many nouns possibly being referred to, but because there is none.
In four experiments with subject and nonsubject pronouns, strong parallel function effects emerge when a. You could fix this either by referring to both women with they, if it is indeed the case that both were honored at the awards ceremony after dinner, or by replacing she with the name of the woman being specified. Vague pronoun reference vague pronoun reference occurs in two situations. Better writing avoiding vague and ambiguous pronoun references. Sep 12, 2016 faulty pronoun reference is one of the most serious errors in writing because it can keep the reader from understanding your message. If you go to my pdf, the professors assignment will be more. A pronoun takes the place of a noun, but a pronoun must always refer clearly to its antecedent, which is the noun that the pronoun replaces. Avoiding vague pronoun references macmillanmcgrawhill. If the sentence was truly ambiguous, then it wouldnt be a joke. The antecedent is the word or words that a pronoun replaces.
Rewrite the following sentences, correcting the ambiguous pronoun reference example. We report a visual world eyetracking study that investigated the impact of the word order and grammatical role parallelism on the online comprehension of pronouns in. They could refer to the children, who had been to bristol and john. The pronoun it does not have a clear noun antecedent. Grammatical determinants of ambiguous pronoun resolution. When a pronoun and its antecedent are separated by other words, the pronoun reference may be unclear. To avoid this issue, rewrite the sentence in order to place the pronoun closer to the antecedent to. To be understood, a pronoun must refer clearly to a single nearby antecedent. Unclear pronoun reference you want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. It says on the bathroom wall that joe will sell the answers to the pronoun reference quiz for five dollars. You can answer the practice questions before, during or after you. Just as a chameleon changes its color to coordinate with its. Jun 02, 20 identify the method used to correct the ambiguous pronoun reference. We report a visual world eyetracking study that investigated the impact of the word order and grammatical role parallelism on the online.
The general solutions are to repeat the noun rather than use a pronoun or to eliminate the pretenders by changing their number. Pdf ambiguous pronoun use in narratives of children with. Since the legal profession is highly valued by the public, they are very well paid. Making pronoun references clear pronouns substitute for nouns. But you must use them with care because, in some constructions, the antecedents of these pronouns can be vague. The rule a pronoun must refer to a single noun, which acts as its antecedent. Ambiguous pronoun use in narratives of children with autism spectrum disorders article pdf available in child language teaching and therapy 322 september 2015 with 196 reads. Then answer the questions, and check your answers at the end. Is it ambiguous to whom the pronoun in the following sentence refers.
If two or three nouns vie for a pronoun, the reference is almost certain to be ambiguous. If you use microstation drawings, please submit them as dxf or eps. What is an ambiguous pronoun and what are some examples. Ambiguous reference sometimes called double reference occurs when there are two possible antecedents for a single pronoun. Faulty pronoun reference means the antecedent of your pronoun is not totally and immediately clear. The joke works precisely because you first interpret it one way without any difficulty, and then the punchline insists on interpreting it differently. Indefinite reference occurs when a definite pronoun is used when an indefinite pronoun is needed. A pronoun is used to refer to a particular antecedent only in the sentence and this antecedent should be a single noun. Vague pronoun reference a pronoun without a specific antecedent.
The modifier is technically not a noun, so it may not function as an antecedent. Demonstrative pronounsthis, that, these, thoseare legitimate parts of the english language. In one sentence, for example, the pronoun he might mean zippy the dog. Unclear pronoun references occur when the antecedent the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers is not specifically stated.
A pronoun depends on a noun called the pronouns antecedent for meaning. When jon asked his father if he could borrow the car, jon said he needed it to go to. A pronoun must refer to a single noun, which acts as its antecedent. However, most of their items deviated from parallel structure, and none included subject pronouns. Subject pronoun usage among spanish dialects john m. If a pronoun seems to refer to more than one antecedent, either reword the sentence to. Roger told david that he himself had to work monday. This presentation walks students through the four types of reference errors. The pronoun reference is faulty here because the pronoun it has two antecedents. Andrew is the antecedent of the pronoun he, and it is the pronoun of ball. An ambiguous pronoun is one that is used in a confusing or vague manner.
Sometimes sentences are structured such that they end up containing pronouns that could refer back to two or more different antecedents. A pronouns reference will be unclear if it is ambiguous, implied, vague or indefinite. The pronoun it can refer either to the noun gun or to the implied object, the bullet. Clara opened the door becomes clara sighed heavily. After andrew intercepted the ball, he kicked it as hard as he could. Pronoun reference writing associates program swarthmore.
Faulty pronoun reference is one of the most serious errors in writing because it can keep the reader from understanding your message. The ball rolled down the hallway becomes the ball fell off the table. To avoid a vague pronoun reference, make sure that a pronoun cannot possibly refer to more than one antecedent. Vague and ambiguous pronoun reference by hannah jackson on. 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. Grammatical role parallelism influences ambiguous pronoun. Make sure that the pronoun refers to a specific rather than to an implicit antecedent to prevent confusion. Because a pronoun is taking the place of an antecedent, the connection between the pronoun and antecedent must be clear. When jon asked his father if he could borrow the car, he said he needed it to go to work. Its worth noting that while the sentence is grammatically ambiguous in the use of the pronoun, its meaning is not ambiguous. Identify the method used to correct the ambiguous pronoun reference. Revise your writing to avoid these ambiguous references.
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