Pronoun Problem:
Reference

To avoid confusion, all pronouns must clearly refer to a previously stated antecedent, the word to which the pronoun refers. If there is no clear antecedent (or if the antecedent is missing), the meaning of the sentence is often confusing for the reader.

Consider the following sentence:

Women love receiving flowers, even if they're loose.

The faulty pronoun reference causes confusion for the reader. Who is "loose"? Women? The flowers? Avoid misunderstandings by using pronouns only when there is a clear antecedent.

Corrections:

• Women love receiving loose flowers.
• Even if the flowers are loose, women love receiving them.

Here is another case of unclear pronoun reference:

Fran gave Lori the homework assignments she had missed.

Who had missed the assignments? Fran? Lori? The reader doesn't know if Fran or Lori is the antecedent of "her." To correct this problem, the writer could either repeat the name of the person who missed the assignment, or the writer could reconstruct the sentence.

Corrections:

• "Lori, here are the homework assignments you missed," said Fran.
• Since Lori was absent, Fran gave her the homework assignments.
• When Fran completed the assigments she had missed, she gave them to Lori to turn in.

The problem of pronoun reference is compounded when there is no antecedent. Consider this sentence:

The fans booed and jeered at the referee because he had called it unfairly.

In this case, there is no antecedent at all. What did the referee call unfairly? Did he call a play unfairly? Or maybe it was the entire game. Again, to avoid confusion, there must be a clear antecedent for all pronouns. Otherwise, do not use a pronoun at all as in these suggested corrections.

Corrections:

• The fans booed and jeered at the referee because he had called the game unfairly,
• When the referee called the play unfairly, the fans booed and jeered.