INSTITUTE WRITING PROGRAM
THE WRITING CENTER
Strategies for Using Pronouns Effectively
Because pronouns replace specific nouns and noun phrases with less specific terms, they can often
be a source of confusion in writing. If you are worried that your pronouns might be unclear or
confusing, start by circling or labeling all the pronouns you use. Then locate an antecedent for each
pronoun.
Sometimes, you will discover that a pronoun does not actually have an antecedent. In other cases,
you may find that, though you know what the antecedent is meant to be, another reader would
have difficulty determining the antecedent.

Jane and Julie went to the store to get some ice cream, but she decided she wanted candy instead. (You will probably know whether it was Jane or Julie who wanted ice
cream, but your reader will not.)
If you find pronouns without antecedents, locate the first use of the pronoun and replace it
with the noun it is standing in for. Similarly, if you find a place with an unclear antecedent, reword the sentence or replace a pronoun with a noun.
Circling your pronouns and antecedents can also help you see how much distance there is between the two. If there are too many words between an antecedent and a pronoun, your reader
may have trouble recognizing which word a pronoun replaces (particularly if there are a lot of
nouns in between the two).
While excessive pronouns or unclear referents can cause confusion, too few pronouns can make
writing unnecessarily repetitive and can also introduce confusion into a paragraph. Sometimes, addressing this can be as simple as replacing some of the nouns in a paragraph with pronouns. If a
paragraph uses a number of short, informative sentences that follow similar structures, introducing
pronouns and relative clauses can often help vary sentence length and improve transitions between
sentences.

John Smith published an article in The Atlantic on June 5, 1987. The article was called
“What’s so great about cookies?” In the article, it said that cookies were an inferior dessert when compared to cakes or pies. John Smith is a baker and has written several
cookbooks, so he should know.
In addition to the unclear referent in the third sentence (as the object of the preposition in, “the
article” is not a clear antecedent for the pronoun “it,” which is the subject of the sentence), this
paragraph is choppy, repetitive, and lacks sentence variety. There are a variety of ways these sentences could be combined to form one or two longer, more complex sentences:

In “What’s so great about cookies,” which was published in The Atlantic on June 5,
1987, John Smith addresses the pressing issue of dessert hierarchy. Smith, who is a
baker and has written several cookbooks, argues that cookies are an inferior dessert
when compared to cakes or pies.
The Writing Center | Virginia Military Institute | 215 Carroll Hall | http://www.vmi.edu/writingcenter
Handout created by Sydney Bufkin, October 2014
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