Teaching Tip
The demonstrative pronoun “this” usually comes before a noun, but not al-
ways. In certain situations, it replaces an entire sentence, as in the following:
Fritz cleaned his apartment. This amazed Macarena.
Here, “this” refers to the fact that Fritz cleaned his apartment. In this kind of
construction “this” is called an “indefinite demonstrative pronoun” because
there is no definite antecedent. In the example given, with the two sentences
side by side, the relation is clear; we understand what “this” refers to. How-
ever, inexperienced writers do not always use the indefinite demonstrative
pronoun in ways that make the connection with the antecedent clear. As a re-
sult, they often will have several sentences separating the indefinite demon-
strative “this” and the fact or action to it which it refers. Readers do not have an
easy time figuring out the connection, as in this example:
The romantic model that views writing as an independent and isolated pro-
cess has dominated the classroom for years. The model may be poetic, it
may feel good for teachers, but it is not practical. It does not take into ac-
count the pragmatic social factors that contribute to successful writing.
Moreover, measures of student writing have shown a steady decline in pro-
ficiency over the last 15 years. This can present a major problem for teach-
ers seeking to implement new models and strategies in the classroom.
The word “this” in the last sentence should refer to the idea in the previous
sentence, but it doesn’t; there is no real connection between them. The last
sentence seems most closely linked to the first, but the relation is not clear,
and it certainly is not strong, because of the intervening sentences. Using the
indefinite demonstrative in this instance is not appropriate because it nega-
tively affects clarity and understanding. The sentence would have to be
moved upward to be successful.
The misplacement of sentences that begin with the indefinite demonstrative
“this” occurs frequently in the work of inexperienced writers. In many in-
stances, the situation is worse: There will not be any preceding sentence for
the pronoun; the reference is to a sentence in the writer’s mind that never was
put on paper. A large number of experienced writers object to any usage of
“this” in such a broad way, arguing that an alternative, more precise structure
is better. They recommend replacing the indefinite demonstrative pronoun
with an appropriate noun. In the previous example, replacing “this” with “the
romantic model” would solve the problem.Reciprocal Pronouns
English has two reciprocal pronouns—each otherandone another—which are
used to refer to the individual parts of a plural noun. Consider sentences 13 and 14:
- The friends gave gifts toeach other.
- The dogs looked atone another.
TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR 65