49You’ve tackled the verbs, which means you’ve come a long way. The next big chunk of grammar is all about
pronouns.
There are three pronoun rules ETS tests: Pronoun Ambiguity, Pronoun Agreement, and Pronoun Case.
Pronoun Ambiguity is always the easiest to check for, so let’s start with it.
Rule #4: Pronoun Ambiguity ..................................................................
How to Find: Underlined pronouns, especially he, she, it, this, that, and they.
How to Fix: Insert the noun that the pronoun should be referencing.
Let’s discuss “it,” “this,” “that,” and “they.”
Always remember that the noun the pronoun is referring to has to be
mentioned somewhere in the sentence.
For instance: While walking home from the bakery, Theo tripped and dropped it in the mud.
What is “it”? Perhaps “it” is a cake, or a box of muffins, or even a box of cookies. All of those would be logical,
as Theo is walking home from a bakery, but because there is no stated noun in the sentence that the “it” can
refer to, the sentence would be considered ambiguous and incorrect.
This option would be better: While walking home from the bakery carrying a box of cupcakes, Theo tripped and
dropped it in the mud.
- it is now clear that the it refers to a box.
Try this one: The company installed two back up power supplies, not wanting power outages to cost it valuable
time and money.
- In this sentence there is only one singular pronoun the “it” could refer to and that is “company.”
The sentence is correct as written.
Sometimes, an “it” or “they” might not be clear because it could refer to
more than one singular or plural noun.