Clear Reference


The Goal of this lesson is that you recognize the need for clear reference use in your writing:

A pronoun refers to or replaces a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun already mentioned. The word the pronoun replaces is known as the pronoun’s antecedent. A pronoun should always refer to a clear and definite antecedent.


Example  
  Although the Canadian skater practiced daily with her trainers, she didn’t win the championship.

[Her and she clearly refer to skater.]
State a specific antecedent.

Avoid using a pronoun such as they or it without an explicit antecedent.
Faulty        When Rivera applied for a resident alien card, they put him through many bureaucratic procedures.
[The sentence does not have a clear antecedent for the pronoun they.]

Revised 
      When Rivera applied for a resident alien card, government officials put him through many bureaucratic procedures.

Before government officials issued Rivera a resident alien card, they put him through many bureaucratic procedures.

Make sure that a pronoun refers to a specific noun, not a possessive noun or a noun within a prepositional phrase.

Faulty 
      In George Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant, ” he reports an incident that shows the evil effects of imperialism.

[The pronoun he cannot refer to the possessive noun Orwell’s.]

Revised 
      In his essay “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell reports an incident that shows the evil effects of imperialism.

[The possessive pronoun his can refer to the subject noun Orwell.]

Avoid an ambiguous reference.

Your readers should never be left wondering which this, they, or it is being discussed.

Faulty       My husband told my father that he should choose the baby’s name.
[Does he refer to husband or to father ?]

Revised 
      My husband told my father to choose the baby’s name.

My husband wanted to choose the baby’s name and told my father so.

Write a definition for each of the following terms and provide an example sentence in which you underline the example of the term in question.  Then complete four of the practices that follow, printing your results for each practice.

Antecedent
Ambiguous Reference
Dangling Modifier
Dangling Participle
Indefinite Pronoun
Misplaced Modifier
Vague Reference

Clear Reference #1
Dangling Modifier #1
Misplaced Modifier #1
Indefinite Pronouns #1
Misplaced Modifier #1

Modifier Quiz #1
Modifier Quiz #2
Modifier Quiz #3
Antecedent Quiz #1