English Grammar Demystified - A Self Teaching Guide

196 English Grammar Demystifi ed

Muddled: Bob told the service representative his phone was not working.

Whose phone was not working? The sentence does not answer that question. We’re
trained to assign the pronoun (his) to the closest logical noun—representative in
this case—but that’s not necessarily what the writer meant. Instead, the phone might
belong to the subject, Bob.

Clearer: Bob told the service representative that his, Bob’s, phone was not

working.

Sometimes rewriting the sentence is the better, clearer thing to do. That may
entail dropping the pronoun in favor of a noun. For example:

Muddled: Jen dropped the laptop computer on the glass-top desk and broke it.

What broke, the computer or the glass-top desk? What does it refer to?

Clearer: Jen dropped the laptop computer on the glass-top desk and broke the

glass.

Clearer: When Jen dropped the laptop computer on the glass-top desk, the glass

broke.

Written Practice 9-6

Rewrite the sentences to correct the pronoun reference errors. The fi rst one is done
for you.

1. Don’t give new uniforms to employees until they have name tags.
   Don’t give new uniforms to employees until the uniforms have name tags.


2. Myrna told Jodi she had a terrible cold and shouldn’t go to the PTA
   meeting.


3. Our new water tank holds 20 percent less than our old one. It cost 30
   percent more, though.