{"id":2514,"date":"2018-04-05T14:41:43","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T20:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/?p=2514"},"modified":"2018-04-05T14:41:43","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T20:41:43","slug":"pronouns-that-can-get-you-in-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/pronouns-that-can-get-you-in-trouble\/","title":{"rendered":"Pronouns that can get you in trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ariana Dale<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently sent a text to a friend to tell him how grateful I was for his presence in my life. I started by telling him about some difficult things I\u2019d been working through, then I transitioned into my gratitude with \u201cIt all started with\u2026.\u201dI re-read the text after I sent it and was horrified. By using \u201cit\u201d without defining what I was referring too, I had basically just told my friend that all the difficult things that had happened started with him! This was the absolute <\/span>last<\/span><\/i> message I wanted to convey.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how can you make sure that you\u2019re using pronouns correctly? Try this:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Find all of the demonstrative pronouns<\/b> (this, that, these, those, it, etc.) in your paper. You can circle them, highlight them, put a massive star in the margin to help you remember\u2026but find them. Find them all.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Figure out what subject you\u2019re actually referring to.<\/b> You can keep note of it in the margin. <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Find a word that concisely describes<\/b> what you\u2019re referring to and add it after your pronoun. For example, if you say, \u201cThis was really confusing,\u201d you might want to clarify <\/span>this<\/b> by saying, \u201cThis concept in astrophysics was really confusing.\u201d (If you\u2019ve already clarified your pronouns, give yourself a big thumbs up!)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here\u2019s what I should have done.<\/span><\/p>\n

    My original text looked something like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cLately, I have been having <\/span>a really difficult time<\/span><\/i> balancing work, school, and personal life. <\/span>It <\/b>all started with our conversation and your note of encouragement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    In this example, <\/span>it<\/b> is referring to <\/span>the difficult time<\/span><\/i> I had been having. As I said earlier, this text I sent was meant to give gratitude, so the way I wrote it was sending the <\/span>wrong<\/span> message! What I intended to say was that our conversation, especially his encouragement, was the start of a positive change. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s how I could have written it:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cLately, I have been having a really difficult time balancing work, school, and personal life. <\/span>A positive change<\/b> all started with our conversation and your note of encouragement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    Now, my overall text could use some polishing up, but at least this way I\u2019m not telling my friend that he\u2019s the source of everything awful!<\/span><\/p>\n

    Sometimes it\u2019s easy to disregard grammar in a text, but this mistake was a good reminder to me that grammar is important in <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> forms of writing!<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Ariana is the post-graduate teaching intern (PGTI) for the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). This spring, she started grad school at Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville (SIUE) and is working toward a master\u2019s in education in instructional technology.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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