Grammar: Pronouns and Antecedents

Nouns

• What is a noun?

• A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, thing, place and abstract idea.

• Late last year our neighbours bought a goat.

• Portia White was an opera singer.

• The bus inspector looked at all the passengers' passes.

• According to Plutarch, the library at Alexandria was destroyed in 48 B.C.

• Philosophy is of little comfort to the starving.

All of the words in bold are nouns…

Types of Nouns

• Proper Nouns

• Common Nouns

• Concrete Nouns

• Abstract Nouns

Jimmy woke up in the morning. Jimmy ate breakfast. Jimmy took a shower and got dressed. Jimmy brushed his teeth. Jimmy said good bye to his Mom. His mom told Jimmy to have a good day at school. His mom handed Jimmy his lunch. Jimmy walked out of the door. Jimmy went to the bus stop and got on the bus.

Is there anything wrong with this paragraph?

Pronouns

• What is a pronoun?

• A pronoun can replace a noun or another pronoun. Examples include he, she, him, her, and you.

• Jimmy woke up in the morning. He ate breakfast and he took a shower and got dressed. He brushed his teeth. He said good bye to his Mom. She told him to have a good day at school. She handed him his lunch. He walked out of the door. He went to the bus stop and got on the bus.

• Sounds a bit better that way…

The problem with pronouns

• Over an entire paragraph, the use of pronouns can become confusing as the the original noun may get lost.

• This can even happen in a sentence though.

• The hunter shot the elephant in his pajamas.

• Who was in the pajamas?

Antecedents

• The antecedent is important as it lets the reader know who or what you are talking about. An unclear pronoun can be confusing.

• Such as…..

• Billy walked into class late. When the teacher let him in the class, Robert raised his hand to ask a question. Theresa took this opportunity to send a text when the teacher wasn’t looking. The class bean to get noisy. He finally took his seat in class. The teacher answered his question and told her to put her phone away.

• A bit confusing right?