Introduction to Grammar - Pronouns | Verbal for GMAT PDF Download

Pronouns

Pronouns take the place of a noun to avoid repetition and to clearly express the meaning of the sentence.

• The pronoun is a part of speech and the commonly used pronouns include I, she, he, they, them, we, etc. 
• Among its various types, the personal pronouns are the ones that are used the most.

Sentence 1:

The teacher walked into the class and saw that the students doing the group assignment were too loud, so the teacher told the students that the group assignment would have to end if the students did not control students’ volume.

Sentence 2: 

Teacher walked in to the class and saw that the students doing the group assignment were too loud, so he told them that the group assignment would have to end if they did not control their volume.

• Notice how in sentence 1, the nouns are repeated, and, therefore, the sentence is clumsy and difficult to comprehend. 
• On the other hand, in sentence 2, pronouns are used in place of the nouns, and the sentence becomes much more precise and clear.
• Since pronouns replace nouns, they also express the name of a person, a place, or a thing. E.g.
  1. Tom was angry at Sheila for not taking Tom to Central Park, as Tom loves to go to Central Park for picnics with Sheila.
  2. Tom was angry at Sheila for not taking him to Central Park, as he loves to go there for picnics with her.

Types of Pronouns

There are 5 types of pronouns.

1. Personal Pronoun:

These pronouns refer to specific people or things. For example: he, she, they, etc. When you use personal pronouns, you should take care to use them in the correct case or form.

1.1 Subject Case Pronouns – I, You, She, He, It, We, They
Be sure to use a subject case pronoun when the pronoun acts as a subject in the sentence. For example:
a. Sheila slept before the sunset.
She slept before the sunset.
b. Tom and Sheila left the meeting early to attend a gala event.
They left the meeting early to attend a gala event.

1.2 Object Case Pronouns – Me, You, Her, Him, It, Us, You, Them
Likewise, use object case pronouns when the pronoun acts as an object in the sentence. For example:
a. Assign the task to Sheila.
Assign the task to her.
b. Tom needs to meet Sheila and James.
Tom needs to meet them.

1.3 Possessive Case Pronouns – My, His, Her, Their, Its
Likewise, use possessive case pronouns when you need to show ownership. For example:
a. Sheila’s share of chocolate is almost over.
Her share of chocolate is almost over.
b. The students’ books are torn.
Their books are torn.

2. Relative Pronouns:

These pronouns connect a group of words to specific nouns. They are called relative pronouns because they relate to the word that they modify. For example that, which, where, whose, etc are relative pronouns.
a. The book that contains the details of the experiment was stolen. (‘that’ relates to the noun ‘book’).
b. The barren land, which has not been cultivated since ages, belongs to an old couple, who cannot hire any help. (‘which’ relates to the noun ‘land’ and ‘who relates to the noun "old couple").

3. Indefinite Pronouns:

These pronouns refer to people and things that are not specific. For example, all, everyone, each, everything, anyone, anything, etc are indefinite pronouns.
a. Everyone has the right to vote in this country.
b. Each student needs to sign the attendance sheet.

4. Demonstrative Pronouns:

These pronouns refer to the nouns that follow them. For example, those etc are demonstrative pronouns.
a. These shoes are mine.
b. This box contains several antique items.

5. Reflexive Pronouns:

These pronouns are used when the subject of the sentence does something to itself. These pronouns end in –self or –selves.
a. I cut myself while chopping the vegetables.
We also use these pronouns to emphasize the subject.
b. They themselves cannot handle the situation.

6. Singular and Plural Pronouns:

Like a noun, a pronoun can be either singular or plural. Some singular pronouns are he, it, I, her, this, etc. Some plural pronouns are they, we, us, them, those, etc.

Rules Regarding Pronouns

• A proposition will be followed by an objective pronoun. Example: The fight was between me and him. Here between is a preposition, so the following pronouns (me, him) will be objective pronouns.
• When comparing two entities and using the word “than”, nominative pronouns will be used. Example: Alex is better than him.
• When using a pronoun for a collective noun, the pronoun should be singular and not plural. Example: The class is quite today. Since the class is a collective noun, pronoun will be singular.
• If we talk about two nouns using either or/neither nor, singular pronoun will be used. Example:  Neither Sam nor Dean gave his homework on time.
• If the nouns are joined by or, the use plural pronouns. Example:  Neither Sam or Dean gave their homework on time.
• When using reciprocal pronouns, “each other” is used when talking about two persons. “One another ” is used for more than two people. Example: “They knew each other from school” (talking about two people). “Nobody knew one another on that bus” (talking about several people).

Example Sentence Correction Questions

Q.1. The manager’s endorsement of his assistant as a highly skilled member of the team seemed to be an implication that his assistant would win a promotion.

(A) to be an implication that

(B) to make the implication

(C) to imply that

(D) as if implying that

(E) to make implicit

Answer: C

Solution: First, the question is asking us to identify the noun/adjective/verb split of the word ‘implication’. 

Answers A and B use the noun form of the word which makes the sentence longer and harder to read. Answer D changes the word to ‘implying’ which is a different form of the verb, whilst answer E uses a different word entirely (‘implication’ is changed to ‘implicit’) which could alter the comprehension and clarity of the sentence.

Second, we need to understand that the GMAT is looking for formal use of language. When we talk with our peers, we may remove the word ‘that’ from our syntax; yet in its written form, the word ‘that’ is important when it comes to grammatical coherence.

We can, therefore, eliminate answers A, B, D and E. By process of elimination, we can deduce that the correct answer is: C 

Q,2. Although the term ‘introvert’ is sometimes thought to mean a shy person, psychologists argue it is someone who is often drained of energy in social situations and re-energized by spending time alone.

(A) it is someone who is
(B) it is in reference to people
(C) it refers to someone who is
(D) they are people who are
(E) it is a person  

Answer: The correct answer is: C 

Solution: The passage is discussing the term ‘introvert’, which is singular. We can therefore immediately eliminate any answer choice that is plural; in this case, answers D and B. Answer B is also unnecessarily wordy.

Although an introvert can be a person, here we are only talking about the term itself. Answers A and E can be eliminated as they are talking about people. These are also incorrect in themselves as they use the pronoun ‘it’ to refer to ‘someone’ or ‘a person’.

Sentence Correction Trap: Pronouns

Consider the following question:

Q.1. Churchgoers in the Oldcastle parish have asked the leaders of the Human Genome Project not to hold a convention in the center opposite the local church since the agenda presented in the convention may be offensive to them.

A) the leaders of the Human Genome Project not to hold a convention in the center opposite the local church since the agenda presented in the convention may be offensive to them

B) the leaders of the Human Genome Project not to hold a convention at the local church since the agenda presented in the convention may be offensive to them

C) the leaders of the Human Genome Project not to hold a convention in the center opposite the local church due to the fact that the agenda presented in the convention may be offensive to them

D) the leadership of the Human Genome Project not to hold a convention in the center opposite the local church due to the fact the agenda presented in the convention may be offensive to them

E) the leadership of the Human Genome Project not to hold a convention in the center opposite the local church since the agenda presented in the convention may be offensive to them

Solution: At first glance, nothing seems off, does it? Grammatically the sentence seems fine and there do not seem to be any stylistic issues or issues in the logic/meaning of the sentence. So it is on to the answer choices we must go. You may quickly notice that the word “them” at the end of the answer choices is a problem because it has two possible plural antecedents – “churchgoers” and “leaders”. However, you see that the word “them” is present in all the answer choices. Have the test makers made an error?

Whenever you think the test makers may be mistaken, it is safer to assume you are overlooking something. How could it be that suddenly the word “them” is not ambiguous? What if there are no longer two possible plural antecedents? Note the clever change of “leaders” to “leadership” tucked away in answer choices D and E. One of these must be correct.

It is very important to note that with pronouns, often it is easy to see whether they agree with what they are referring to, but often students either miss the possible ambiguity or jump way too quickly on ambiguity, thinking that any pronoun that can refer to two nouns is necessarily ambiguous. This is not so. Firstly, remember that we can consider ambiguity a stylistic error unless that ambiguity skews the logical meaning of the sentence. Then it is serious. But if a pronoun refers to more than one noun but it is really not logical that it refers to both nouns, then chances are that it may not be ambiguous - sure it may be grammatically ambiguous, so to speak, but in terms of logic/meaning it may not be.