Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The Rules of Writing-Parts of Speech-Pronoun 1
Published: September 20, 2012


What’s a pronoun?

A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a particular noun or another pronoun. The specific noun that a pronoun substitutes for is called an “antecedent.”

She, him, her, it, and our are pronouns.

How do pronouns work?

If we didn’t have pronouns, languages would read stilted and awkward, full of repetitions. Take the following passage:

Arius cut straight through the vineyards, holding back the branches for Thea not out of courtesy, but because Thea would slow Arius down if Thea had to fight Thea’s own way through.

Besides the horrid noun repetition, the passage above should be in first person, a lost cause without the concourse of pronouns. Kate Quinn will blow a fuse at the liberties we’ve taken with her prose. This is how she wrote it:

Arius cut straight through the vineyards, holding back the branches for me not out of courtesy, but because I would slow him down if I had to fight my own way through.

Although pronouns are small words, they are irreplaceable.

Writer’s Companion, Renee Miller & Carlos Cortes


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