![\"Manhattan](\"\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/02\/2-14-17-blog-1.png\")
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Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Pronouns are nifty little tools for consolidating your writing. Instead of repeating a noun over and over within the same sentence, you can simply replace it with a pronoun. The meaning stays clear and the message is concise. Compare the following sentences:<\/p>\n When Arjun spilled the coffee, the coffee drenched all the papers that Arjun was working on and the coffee made the papers nearly illegible.<\/span><\/p>\n When Arjun spilled the coffee, it drenched all the papers that he was working on and it made them nearly illegible.<\/span><\/p>\n You understand the meaning in either case, but one sounds unnecessarily wordy. Conversations would be much longer if pronouns didn\u2019t exist. So let\u2019s get down to the nitty-gritty of what pronouns are and how they work.<\/span><\/p>\n A pronoun is a word that can replace a noun or a noun phrase. We use them all the time without even noticing. When you point to a soda and ask \u201cCan you hand me <\/span>that<\/span><\/i>?\u201d you\u2019re using a pronoun.<\/span><\/p>\n They\u2019re even simple in terms of the GMAT. You\u2019ve got to keep in mind three things:<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s dive in to what these rules mean.<\/span><\/p>\n An \u201cantecedent\u201d is the noun or noun phrase that the pronoun refers to. If we revisit our example of coffee spilling, you should find three pronouns, each with its own antecedent. Try to spot all three pairs before reading on to the explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n When Arjun spilled the coffee, it drenched all the papers that he was working on and it made them nearly illegible.<\/span><\/p>\n The first pronoun in the sentence is \u201cit.\u201d \u201cIt\u201d is the thing that\u2019s drenching the papers, so we can reason that \u201cit\u201d must be the coffee. \u201cCoffee\u201d is the antecedent to \u201cit.\u201d Hopefully you were able to pair the other two as well: \u201che\u201d and \u201cArjun\u201d, \u201cthem\u201d and \u201call the papers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n This rule is actually a little more strict on the GMAT than in standard English. Typically, you\u2019re not reading a sentence on its own, you\u2019re reading it in the context of a paragraph or a larger article. Therefore, it\u2019s entirely acceptable to write a sentence with a pronoun referring to an antecedent in a different sentence. But on Sentence Correction questions, we\u2019re restricted to a single sentence, so the antecedent must actually show up in the same sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n See whether you can spot the error here:<\/span><\/p>\n Without realizing her mistake, Ana continued to overcook the squash, finally serving a dinner that they were not satisfied with.<\/span><\/p>\n Did you think the misbehaving pronoun was \u201cher\u201d? If so, you were wrong. \u201cHer\u201d has an antecedent: Ana. The fact that the noun comes after the pronoun is inconsequential, as long as the relationship is clear.<\/span><\/p>\n The actual culprit was \u201cthey.\u201d Who\u2019s they? The family members? The customers in Ana\u2019s restaurant? The Ambassador to New Guinea and his wife? Based on this sentence, we have no idea. The antecedent is not present. If you missed this, you probably didn\u2019t even realize a pronoun was present. <\/span><\/p>\n The number one reason why test takers choose answers that violate this first pronoun rule is that they don\u2019t see the pronoun. So be on the lookout! Practice recognizing pronouns in emails you send, books you read, even ads on buses. In particular, be sure to pause every time you see any of the five most commonly tested pronouns:<\/span><\/p>\n It<\/span><\/p>\n Its<\/span><\/p>\n They<\/span><\/p>\n Them<\/span><\/p>\n Their<\/span><\/p>\n Once you spot it, verify that it has an antecedent. (Btw, did you notice my sloppy use of \u201cit\u201d in the previous sentence? There\u2019s definitely no antecedent within that sentence, but you have the benefit of reading this in context, so you should know what \u201cit\u201d is.)<\/span><\/p>\n If you consider the five common pronouns listed above, there\u2019s a significant difference between the first two and final three. \u201cIt\u201d and \u201cits\u201d replace singular antecedent, while \u201cthey,\u201d \u201cthem,\u201d and \u201ctheir\u201d all replace plural antecedents. Simple illustrations:<\/span><\/p>\n The watermelon is delicious and Sheri just can\u2019t get enough of it.<\/span><\/p>\n Jorge was able to juggle three balls at a time, but only for about a minute before he dropped them.<\/span><\/p>\n So while you\u2019re checking that the antecedent is present within the sentence, check that it actually agrees with the pronoun as well.<\/span><\/p>\n This is the hardest rule to enforce. Sometimes things sound ambiguous when they\u2019re not. Sometimes you think they\u2019re fine when there\u2019s a major problem. Test yourself to see if you can spot the presence (or absence) of ambiguity:<\/span><\/p>\n All the people in the room gasped when Jacob and Hans revealed their evil plot.<\/span><\/p>\n Boots, including knee-highs and ankle-highs, come into fashion during colder months when they are a practical choice.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll give you a minute to think\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Still thinking\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Ok, here\u2019s the likely GMAT interpretation of the ambiguity. The first sentence is ambiguous, the second one is not.<\/span><\/p>\n Wait, what?<\/span><\/p>\n Nope, that\u2019s not a mistake. The only pronoun in the first sentence is \u201ctheir\u201d and the meaning the author intended (speaking as the author) was <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> the revelation of Jacob\u2019s and Hans\u2019s evil plot. Consider who else \u201ctheir\u201d could refer to. It\u2019s plural, so it needs to be a plural noun or noun phrase, and there is another candidate present. <\/span>All the people!<\/span><\/i> The people in the room were shocked when Jacob and Hans betrayed them by revealing the group\u2019s evil plot. Such betrayal!<\/span><\/p>\n How could you know that my intended meaning was a vast group conspiracy rather than just a pair of troublemakers? You couldn\u2019t. I gave no hints to that meaning in my sentence. But you also couldn\u2019t know that wasn\u2019t my intended meaning. The two plural nouns are both decent candidates for antecedents, so the sentence is ambiguous. If I change it to:<\/span><\/p>\n All the people in the room gasped when Jacob and Hans revealed the people\u2019s evil plot.<\/span><\/p>\n then we would have no ambiguity. I\u2019ve removed the ambiguity by replacing the pronoun with its antecedent. It\u2019s longer, but clearer.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut wait, Emily!\u201d I hear you saying. If the issue is just that you need only one plural noun to go with the plural antecedent, isn\u2019t the second sentence (reproduced below) also ambiguous? <\/span><\/p>\n Boots, which include both knee-highs and ankle-highs, come into fashion during colder months when they are a practical choice.<\/span><\/p>\n We have three plural nouns: boots, knee-highs, and ankle-highs. Couldn\u2019t \u201cthey\u201d refer to any of them and doesn\u2019t that make this sentence ambiguous? I\u2019m so glad you asked.<\/span><\/p>\n The answer is no. The two types of boots are being used as a descriptor (go back to our <\/span>noun modifier post<\/span><\/a> for a refresher on that if you\u2019d like). \u201cBoots\u201d is the subject of the sentence, and \u201cthey\u201d is the subject of a dependent clause (when <\/span>they are<\/span><\/i> a practical choice). You could reasonably match up two subjects, but it\u2019s unlikely you\u2019d match a subject with a random noun within a modifier.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re getting very much into the nuances of grammar, so let\u2019s wrap up with how you\u2019re going to figure this out with a time constraint on the GMAT.<\/span><\/p>\n The short answer is: you\u2019re not. You\u2019re going to use the structure of the GMAT to cheat. Well, not exactly cheat, but definitely to reduce unnecessary work. In your first glance, imagine you recognize that the endings of the five answer choices are:<\/span><\/p>\n A) \u2026 than they were<\/span><\/p>\n B) \u2026 than they are<\/span><\/p>\n C) \u2026 than it is<\/span><\/p>\n D) \u2026 then it was<\/span><\/p>\n E) \u2026 than it was<\/span><\/p>\n All of these answers have a pronoun. You don\u2019t have the option of changing it back to a more clear, but less concise, noun. So we\u2019re stuck with it. Go figure out if the antecedent is singular or plural, and eliminate accordingly. (Bonus points if you caught that D has an additional red flag.)<\/span><\/p>\n But in the situation that the ending of the answer choices are:<\/span><\/p>\n A) \u2026 than they were<\/span><\/p>\n B) \u2026 than they are<\/span><\/p>\n C) \u2026 than the books were<\/span><\/p>\n D) \u2026 then the books are<\/span><\/p>\n E) \u2026 than the books are<\/span><\/p>\n you need to go see if a pronoun is even reasonable. Does the presence of \u201cthey\u201d introduce ambiguity?<\/span><\/p>\n It will take practice and patience to make the right determination, one of which you can find in our <\/span>Sentence Correction Strategy Guide<\/span><\/a>, the other you\u2019ll need to cultivate on your own. And keep practicing spotting pronouns in everyday life. It\u2019s an important skill for the GMAT!\u00a0?<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, the most in-depth way to learn the ins-and-outs of the GMAT is to <\/i><\/b>take a complete course<\/i><\/b><\/a> with one of our master instructors. You can try out any first session for free! No strings attached. We promise.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Possessive Pronouns Pronouns are nifty little tools for consolidating your writing. Instead of repeating a noun over and over within the same sentence, you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,52871,930,2,26,10],"tags":[267,52982,52983,621],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-13186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-sentence-correction","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-gmat-grammar","tag-gmat-pronouns","tag-pronoun-rules","tag-pronouns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13186"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13210,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13186\/revisions\/13210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13186"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=13186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPossessive Pronouns<\/b><\/h4>\n
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Rule 1: The pronoun must have an\u00a0<\/b>antecedent.<\/b><\/h4>\n
Rule 2: The pronoun and antecedent must agree in number.<\/b><\/h4>\n
Rule 3: The pronoun must be unambiguous.<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\n![\"Emily](\"\/\/d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/01\/emily-madan-150x150.png\" "\\"Emily")
<\/a><\/strong><\/em>Emily Madan<\/a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/strong>Having scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT (770) and LSAT (177), Emily is committed to helping others achieve their full potential.\u00a0In the classroom, she loves bringing concepts to life and her greatest thrill is that moment when a complex topic suddenly becomes clear to her students. Check out Emily\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a>. Your first class is always free!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"