Sentence Correction Notes : Pronouns

In GMAT There are three types of pronoun errors to watch out for.

1. Pronoun Reference
2. Pronoun Agreement
3. Pronoun Case

Pronoun Reference

The noun that the the pronoun refers to is the antecedent.

When there are two or more possible antecedents, sentence should be corrected to clear all ambiguity.

Eg.

Since hunting was something Dick loved, he was pissed off pissed off when he criticized him on TV.

Here, Who he? Is a valid question not yet answered.

Since hunting was something Dick loved, he was pissed off pissed off when Larry King criticized him on TV.

Pronoun Agreement

• Does the pronoun agree with the antecedent number? [Singular, Plural, Two etc.]

Pronoun Case

Depending on, whether the antecedent is the subject or the Object of the sentence, choice of antecedent differs.

Subject Pronouns will be, I, he, you, she, it, we, they, who etc.

Object Pronouns : me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom

possessive pronouns: my,mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, ours, our,their, theirs, whose

Eg.

Dick and me went hunting together is Wrong, Since pronoun is part of the subject.

The correct form will be, Dick and I went hunting together.

On the other hand,

The hunting was attended by Dick and me, is the correct sentence since 'The hunting' is the subject here.

Who did you shoot, is Wrong.

Whom did you shoot, is correct.

Careful, with possessive Pronouns

When a possessive noun is either the subject or the object in a sentence, and there comes a pronoun to refer back to it, The ONLY correct choice will be possessive Pronoun.