Pronouns, Reference & Cohesion

Personal and possessive forms

English distinguishes subject, object and possessive forms.

Examples: she / her / her / hers; they / them / their / theirs.

Choose the form according to its grammatical role in the sentence.

Clear antecedents

The antecedent is the word or idea a pronoun refers back to.

Clear: When Maya spoke to Sara, Sara said she needed more time. The context may still be ambiguous because she could refer to either person.

Clearer: When Maya spoke to Sara, Sara said that Maya needed more time.

This, that, these and those

Demonstratives can point back to a noun or to a whole previous idea.

Weak: The city reduced bus services. This was a problem.

Stronger: The reduction in bus services created problems for commuters.

Repeating a key noun can be clearer than using a vague this.

Pronoun agreement

Pronouns should match what they refer to in number and meaning.

Singular they is standard when a person's gender is unknown, irrelevant or non-binary: If a student has a question, they can ask after class.

Reference creates cohesion

A cohesive paragraph guides the reader from known information to new information.

Pronouns, demonstratives and repeated key nouns can create that chain, but variation should never make the reference unclear.

Unclear: The company sent the proposal to the council after it had revised it. This caused a delay.

What does each it refer to? What caused the delay?

Clearer: After revising the proposal, the company sent it to the council. The late revision caused a delay.

The revised version reduces ambiguity by naming the important referents.

1. Find every pronoun and reference word in the sentence or paragraph.
2. Identify exactly what each one refers to.
3. Check subject, object and possessive forms.
4. Check number agreement.
5. Replace vague this, it, they or which when more than one referent is possible.
6. Repeat a key noun when repetition is clearer than a pronoun.
7. Read across sentence boundaries to check that the reference chain remains clear.

Mistake: Me and Alex completed the task.

Better: Alex and I completed the task.

Mistake: The students submitted his report.

Better: The students submitted their reports.

Mistake: The article criticises the policy. This is unclear.

Better: Name what is unclear: The article's main criticism is unclear.

Mistake: Using a pronoun when two earlier nouns could both be the antecedent.

Better: Repeat the intended noun or restructure the sentence.

Which revision removes the ambiguity in 'When Leo called Amir, he was already at the station' if Amir was at the station?

• A. When Leo called Amir, he was already at the station.
• B. When Leo called Amir, Amir was already at the station.
• C. When he called him, he was there.
• D. Leo called Amir because he.

Answer: B. Repeating Amir makes the intended reference explicit.

• Pronoun form depends on grammatical role.
• Every pronoun should have a clear referent.
• Reference words can connect ideas across sentences.
• Vague this, it and they can weaken clarity.
• Repeat a noun when that is clearer than avoiding repetition.
• Clear reference is part of grammatical accuracy and text cohesion.