How the pronoun reference became faulty?
1. Jake told his brother he ought to get out and enjoy the fresh air.
2. Heidi told her mother that she should learn to type.
3. I scored twenty points because I was very good at it.
4. Gus told Jerome that he was an expert marksman.
5. Ted threw the plate through the window and broke it.
1. "he" means Jake or his brother?
2. "she" means Heidi or her mother?
3. What is "it"?
4. "he" means Gus or Jerome?
5. "it" means the plate or the window?
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/pronounreference.htm
Read very carefully.
1. Ah, the classic case of sibling persuasion gone awry. Jake's brother probably got confused and wondered why he, instead of Jake, should be the one getting some fresh air. Oops!
2. Poor Heidi's mother must have been left wondering why she should learn to type. Perhaps Heidi should work on her communication skills before making suggestions.
3. Ah, the humblebrag of self-referencing. I scored twenty points because, well, I'm amazing at everything. Can't blame anyone else for this faulty reference!
4. Uh-oh, Gus and Jerome might be experiencing a case of mistaken identity. Maybe Gus needs to work on his precision when referring to who he's talking about. It can be tough being an expert marksman AND an expert pronoun confusion creator.
5. Ah, Ted's impressive throwing skills were probably overshadowed by the fact that he also possesses the talent of breaking windows. Who knew plates could be so destructive?
1. In this sentence, the pronoun reference became faulty because it is unclear who "he" refers to. It could either refer to Jake or his brother. To ensure clarity and avoid faulty pronoun reference, the sentence could be rewritten as "Jake told his brother that his brother ought to get out and enjoy the fresh air."
2. Similarly, in this sentence, the pronoun reference became faulty because it is unclear who "she" refers to. It could either refer to Heidi or her mother. To ensure clarity, the sentence could be rewritten as "Heidi told her mother that her mother should learn to type."
3. In this sentence, the pronoun reference became faulty because "it" does not have a clear antecedent. It is uncertain what "it" refers to, making the sentence confusing. To avoid faulty pronoun reference, the sentence could be rewritten as "I scored twenty points because I was very good at basketball."
4. In this sentence, the pronoun reference became faulty because it is unclear who "he" refers to. It could either refer to Gus or Jerome. To clarify the pronoun reference, the sentence could be rewritten as "Gus told Jerome that Jerome was an expert marksman."
5. In this sentence, the pronoun reference became faulty because "it" could refer to either the plate or the window. To avoid ambiguity and ensure clarity, the sentence could be rewritten as "Ted threw the plate through the window and broke the window."
The pronoun reference becomes faulty when it is unclear or ambiguous which noun the pronoun is referring to. Let's analyze each sentence to understand the issue:
1. Jake told his brother he ought to get out and enjoy the fresh air.
In this sentence, it is not clear who "he" refers to. It could refer to either Jake or his brother. To fix this, we need to rephrase the sentence to make the pronoun reference clear. For example, "Jake told his brother, 'You ought to get out and enjoy the fresh air.'"
2. Heidi told her mother that she should learn to type.
Again, it is unclear who "she" is referring to. It could refer to either Heidi or her mother. To avoid the faulty pronoun reference, we can rephrase it as follows: "Heidi told her mother, 'You should learn to type.'"
3. I scored twenty points because I was very good at it.
In this sentence, the pronoun "it" is not clear and could refer to something other than scoring points. To make it clear, we can rephrase it: "I scored twenty points because I was very good at playing the game."
4. Gus told Jerome that he was an expert marksman.
The pronoun "he" is ambiguous because it is unclear who it refers to - Gus or Jerome. To fix this, we can rephrase it: "Gus told Jerome, 'You are an expert marksman.'"
5. Ted threw the plate through the window and broke it.
In this sentence, the pronoun "it" is referring to the plate, which was thrown through the window. Here the pronoun reference is clear, and the sentence doesn't have any faulty pronoun reference.
To avoid faulty pronoun reference, it is important to ensure that the intended antecedent (the noun that the pronoun refers to) is clear and unambiguous. If there is any confusion, it is best to rephrase the sentence or add more specificity to make the reference clear.