On the GMAT Sentence Correction, one of the most common types of traps involves simple ordinary pronouns, usually personal pronouns. What’s so hard about pronouns? Well, consider this practice Sentence Correction question.
1. While the Senate of the Roman Republic did not have the power to enact laws, their decrees generally were obeyed like law, and through them they exercised considerable influence.
(A) their decrees generally were obeyed like law, and through them they
(B) its decrees generally were obeyed as if to be law, and through these it
(C) their decrees, generally obeyed as law, through it they
(D) its decrees generally were obeyed like law, and through them it
(E) their decrees were generally obeyed as was the law, and through it they
That question is packed with pronoun problems—do you see them all? A full explanation will appear at the end of this article.
Introduction: what is a pronoun?
A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun, taking the place of that noun. Technically, there are a few different kinds of pronouns. The most common are the personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, they and associated cases)—these are the focus of the present post. These typically have a subjective or nominative case (“I“), an objective case (“me“), and possessive forms (“my” and “mine“). Just FYI, some other pronoun types include:
(A) demonstrative pronouns (e.g. this, that, those, etc.)
(B) reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself, etc.)
(C) indefinite pronouns (e.g. anyone, anybody, etc.)
(D) interrogative pronouns (e.g. who?, what?, etc.)
(E) relative pronouns (e.g. who, what, that, whoever, whatever, etc.)
Sorting out the differences among these is a bigger task, and not necessarily helpful for excelling on the GMAT Sentence Correction. Let’s stick to big pronoun ideas.
Here’s a BIG pronoun idea: The noun a pronoun represents is called the antecedent. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender and number. With this terminology, we are ready to discuss traps.
Trap #1: Antecedents in the possessive
When the antecedent of a pronoun appears in the possessive, this can be a tricky case. You see, if I am talking about “Kevin’s car,” the immediate rhetorical focus is the car, not the person. Fifty years ago and more, it was considered incorrect for an antecedent of a pronoun to appear in the possessive. The rules about this have relaxed, although admittedly, the GMAT doesn’t test this often. This is not really a “trap” anymore.
Most likely, the GMAT would not have a problem with that sentence. The antecedent, Mr. Marcus Tullius Cicero, is in the possessive, but it’s unambiguous otherwise. Once again, some true conservatives—folks much more conservative that the GMAT!—would have some issue with this, but you don’t need to worry about them. And, again, the GMAT doesn’t test this often.
One case that is 100% uncontroversial is the case is as follows—a noun in the possessive certainly can be the antecedent of a possessive pronoun.
Without a doubt, that sentence could be 100% correct on the GMAT. Absolutely no one would have an issue with that.
Trap #2: Collective nouns
Consider the following list—the US Supreme Court, the steelworkers union, the Assyrian Orthodox Church, the prison population, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Coca-Cola corporation, a herd of cows, the UCSF Medical Center, and the New York Mets baseball team. What do all of these have in common? Precious little, but all are collective nouns—that is to say, each one is a singular noun representing a collection of individuals. Each one, as the subject of a sentence, would take a singular verb. Thus, as an antecedent, each demands a singular pronoun: e.g. “the Berlin Philharmonic performs blah blah blah and then it does ….”
This is perhaps the most common pronoun mistake on the GMAT. Folks see a collective noun, such as one on that list, and they think “Gee, there are a ton of folks in that group,” and as a consequence, they use the plural pronoun. That is wrong 100% of the time. Expect to see incorrect Sentence Correction answer choices of this very pattern on the real GMAT. Do you see which answer choices in the question above have laid this trap for you?
Trap #3: Repeated pronouns
Multiple pronouns with the same antecedent are often repeated in a sentence—that’s fine:
3) Fred came to town because he wanted to introduce his sister to his lawyer.
That sentence has several pronouns, and they all unambiguous refer to “Fred”—this is 100% grammatically correct. It’s also fine if totally different pronouns refer to different antecedents.
4) Marcia loved her colleagues because they would go out of their way to help her on days when her children were home from school.
There are five pronouns in that sentence, but because one antecedent is singular and one is plural, the antecedent of each pronoun is perfectly clear. The problem arises when the antecedents are the same in number, and thus cannot be distinguished.
Those two sentences are complete train wrecks! In the first sentence, we may be able to sort out who is who if we know our Twentieth Century history, but in the second sentence, unless you personally know the people and their proclivities, you would have no way to sort out what’s going on.
The GMAT hates ambiguity on Sentence Correction. In any Sentence Correction question, the same pronoun must refer to the same antecedent. It is 100% unacceptable to have the same pronoun refer to two different antecedents: even if you think you can interpret from context the antecedent in each case, the grammar and syntax themselves must make all distinctions crystal clear. It’s not enough for logic to fill in the holes in grammar: in a well-constructed GMAT sentence, logic and grammar must say exactly the same thing. Anything less than that is unacceptable to the GMAT.
This third trap also appears in some of the answer choices in the question above.
Get it?
If you understand those three, you will understand virtually every pronoun situation the GMAT Sentence Correction will throw your way. If you have had some flashes of insight while reading this article, take another look at the practice question before reading the solutions below. Here’s a practice question from inside the product that also explores pronoun issues:
7) http://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3292
Questions? Comments? Let me know! 🙂
Practice question explanation
Split #1: as discussed above, the Senate of the Roman Republic is a collective noun. Yes, it had many members, but like all collective nouns, it is singular. It would take a singular verb in the present tense, and it demands a singular pronoun — “it” and “its”. Choices (A) & (C) & (E) make the mistake of using the plural pronouns, “they” and their”, so these are wrong. Choice (A) compounds the mistake with the phrase “through them they …”, using the same pronoun with two different antecedents.
Split #2: The word “decrees” is plural and demands the plural pronoun. (C) & (E) make the additional mistake of referring to “decrees” with the singular pronouns.
Split #3: the comparison. We are comparing the subject to subject, noun to noun, so the word “like” is perfectly acceptable —- “decrees …. like laws“. This is what (A) & (D) have. If we use the word “as”, we need a whole phrase — the construction “as was the law” in (E) is acceptable but wordy. The “as” + [noun] construction of (C), “as law“, is not favored by the GMAT. Choice (B) has the atrocious “as if to be law” — wordy, tentative, hypothetical, and grammatically incorrect: take that out back and shoot it!
The only possible answer is (D).
Hi Mike,
Sorry for re-opening an old thread.
First of all let me say I am a huge fan of your posts. Your sense of humor in your explanations just makes me laugh really hard. 🙂
My question – Why is the usage of her wrong in the below sentence. “Her” can act as possessive as well as objective pronoun.
So here her can refer to Harriet Beecher Stowe since both are in possessive form.
What am I missing ?
In her 1851 magazine series, which would later become the famous novel Uncle Tom’s cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s mission was to portray the impact of slavery further, and the abolitionist cause
It’s always OK to re-open an old post. Ongoing discussion is awesome. 🙂
As Mike mentioned in this article, the use of one possessive form that references another non possessive is usually frowned upon in GMAT SC, but there is no absolute rule against it. And if there is sufficient context to link the two forms together, it’ll be fine.
The sentence you showed me above is correct in part because the context makes it obvious that “her” refers to something belonging to Harriet Beecher Stowe. However, there’s another important reason this is correct– although the pronoun has been “fronted”– moved to the first half of the sentence, its true antecedent is Harriet Beecher Stowe. So you actually have a NON possessive antecedent here. And a non possessive noun as an antecedent possessive is much more acceptable in GMAT SC. Problems are more likely to arise when we have a non possessive pronoun, but a possessive noun as the antecedent.
Hi Mike. Is there the mistake with atecedents in the possessive “If the Government violates the people’s rights, Revolt is their sacred right and duty” ?
There definitely is an antecedent problem here. “People’s rights” is possessive, and a possessive antecedent is only acceptable in GMAT SC in very rare instances. (See Mike’s thread on exceptions to the possessive antecedent rule from the GMAT Club forums.)
Hi Mike,
Love to read your articles.
I have a small question. In correct option D, I felt that the pronoun “them” is ambiguous, as we are not sure if it refers to “Laws” or “Decrees”. Same is the case with pronoun “these” in Option B. If this is Okay – in what cases the pronoun can’t refer to Nouns of other clauses?
Guide me here. Thanks in advance.
You’ve hit the nail on the head– a pronoun will only refer to the noun in the immediately preceding clause. The clause immediately before “them” and “their” uses singular “law” rather than plural “laws.” So you can be confident that the plural pronouns “them” and “their” can’t refer to singular “law,” and won’t refer to “laws,” because “laws” is in a previous clause.
Hello Mike
I am not able to understand Trap #1: Antecedents in the possessive.Can you please explain why usage of him is not correct in the first phrase and usage of his is correct in the second phrase.
Trap#3:5 & 6 phrases are also difficult to understand .
Phrase #5:french have distrusted the germans because they invaded their land is correct according to me .Please justify how this is wrong
Basically, on the GMAT, if a noun is possessive, then the pronoun that follows that noun and refers to it must also be possessive. So “Cicero’s,” which indicates that Cicero possesses his writings, must only be followed by “his,” a possessive pronouns. And since possessive nouns and pronouns both must be followed by a possessed object, the “his” that follows “Cicero’s” must also have the object “writings” attached to it.
It’s understandable you might find this confusing, since this is the case of a rule that is very specific to the GMAT. In regular English usage, most writing styles would allow you got follow a noun like “Cicero’s” with either “him” or “his.” But the GMAT is very strict about this, and only allows for a possessive pronoun, if the antecedent is also possessive.
In trap # 3 (repeated pronouns), 5 and 6 certainly are difficult to understand. And that’s the problem. These sentences are incorrect, because the pronouns could possibly refer to two different nouns. And depending on which noun they refer to, the meaning could be very different. To highlight this, I’ll reproduce sentences 5 and 6 from trap 3, below, with some added notes:
5) Historically, the French have distrusted the Germans, because they (“they” could refer to the French or the Germans, so you don’t know who invaded whom) invaded their lands (“their lands” could refer to lands belonging to the Germans or lands belonging to the French) twice in the first half of the twentieth century.
In other words “the French have distrusted the Germans because they invaded their land” is incorrect because it could mean that the French distrust of the Germans was caused by the French invading the German’s lands. OR it could mean that the French distrust the Germans because the Germans invaded the French’s lands.
6) Chris told Mike that while he (“he” could refer to either Chris or Mike, so you can’t tell which of these men is a better foosball player) was a better foosball player, he (“he” could refer to either Chris or Mike, so you can’t tell which of these two is better at Bananagrams) was better at Bananagrams.
Dear Mike,
In option B, at the end it is also mentioned “through these”. Since in a prepositional phrase , a preposition is followed by objective form of a pronoun and in option B subjective form after preposition through is mentioned, so can’t we discard option B on that account too ?
Actually, “through these” is still OK. It just uses a demonstrative pronoun– these— rather than a regular plural pronoun such as them. Either form is acceptable, and if anything, the demonstrative option might make references more clear in longer, complex sentences. B still has its other problems, of course.
Dear Mike,
Please tell me the sentence written below are correct or not (using of definite article)
1. I must go to (the) bank and get the money I need.
(1. “The” before bank will be used or not
2. “the” before money is correct or not)
Hi Dinesh,
Yes, both are correct. However, the use of a definite article depends whether the noun you’re referring to is specific. If you are referring to a specific bank and specific money, then you will use “the.” Now, let’s say it didn’t matter which bank you went to (in fact, you can go to any bank), then you would use “a/an”.
Dear Mike,
Following is a question from GMATprep:
Though the artifacts of the pre-Columbian civilization created a stir from the very first European contacts with the new world in the sixteenth century, it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that Western designers, artists and crafters were inspired to imitate them.
This also happens to be the correct option in the SC problem. However, I can not find the antecedent of the pronoun ‘it’. Could you help me in figuring it out please?
Thanks!
This is a peculiarity of English. Even when there is no obvious subject for a clause, an English clause pretty much always has to have an explicitly stated subject. “It” doesn’t have an antecedent, and is instead a subject placeholder for the a clause stating that imitation of pre-Columbian art didn’t occur until the second half of the 1800s. You can think of “it” as a pronoun representing the general situation that is being described, a kind of pronoun substitute for the abstract, inexpressible idea of a general situation or setting. A similar use of “it” appears in common sentences such as “it is raining,” or “it won’t be dark outside until later this evening.”
Hi Mike,
In the above example for Senate Roman Memebers i can understand that it is collective noun but what about HAVE In the main corrected subject. Have is Plural?
Don’t you think it should be Has
Hi Dushyant,
Happy to help! 🙂
This verb is not “have” alone but rather “did not have.” There is no other way to form a negative past tense verb in this case. If we imagine this were a present tense verb, it would be “does not have” instead of “do not have” and the singular/plural distinction would be more clear.
I hope this clarifies! 🙂
Thanks This explanation helps a lot.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your previous responses.
For the example – “Cicero’s rhetorical style is well admired, and modern scholars still read and admire his writing” , you have mentioned the exception: a noun in the possessive can be the antecedent of a possessive pronoun:
However, the antecedent in this case is the possessive noun “Cicero’s rhetorical style”. How can the pronoun “his” be used for the antecedent “…..style” (“Cicero’s rhetorical style”.) ?
Another great question from Vikas! The problem her,e which Mike touched on, is that the possessive pronoun “his” actually can’t be used as an antecedent unless his is directly followed by a possessed object.
In other words, the sentence “Cicero’s rhetorical style is well admired, and many scholars consider him the greatest writer of the first century BCE” is incorrect because him is not possessive, and can’t have the possessive antecedent Cicero’s. But “Cicero’s rhetorical style is well admired, and many scholars consider his the greatest writer of the first century BCE” would *also* be incorrect, because a possessive pronoun like his must be followed by a possessed object.
This is why Mike proposed the following differently-structured sentence as a correct alternative: “Cicero’s rhetorical style is well admired, and modern scholars still read and admire his writings.” In this case, his is followed by a possessed object– the writings that belong to Cicero.
To give a simpler example, under the academic grammar rules found on the GMAT, you couldn’t say “The man’s coat was very expensive, and people felt it looked good on him. But you also couldn’t say “people felt it looked good on his,” because this ending doesn’t place any kind of possessive object after his. Instead, you’d need to end that sentence with something like, “people felt his coat looked good” or “people admired his coat.”
Thank you so much for such a detailed explanation.
Helps a lot !
Hey Mike
In sentence (5), about the French and Germans, it I remove the comma before ‘because’, would it make the meaning clearer? Or would that be acceptable choice in GMAT?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Mike, Is this a rule – “Two different pronouns cannot have the same referent.” ?
Example – To map Earth’s interior, geologists use a network of seismometers to chart seismic waves that originate in the earth’s crust and ricochet around its interior, which travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions, and more slowly through hotter rocks.
‘that’ and ‘which’ seems to refer to seismic waves. Is this valid?
In the question #5, doesn’t “French” represent a collective pronoun, referring whole group of people who are native to France? Then why have you used “have”, treating “French” as plural? Though, I know that this is correct uses, I would like to understand, exactly why its used different from other collective pronoun. Thanks for your response.
Hi Mike, in the practice sentence at the top, isn’t “like” used in the wrong way? GMATically, we are supposed to user like for comparisons only and to show as function or in place of “similar to” we are supposed to use “as”. Though, its not related to pronouns, I would request you to clarify this confusion. Thanks in advance.
Hi Mike, I have a query on the examples given above. In the example 2, you have shown that how a different case of pronoun cannot refer to a different case of noun a. (“him” referring to “Cicero’s”). But in example 3, “his” referring to “Fred” is considered correct.
Please shed some light on this use. Thanks for your reply in advance.
Dear Abhinav,
I’m happy to respond. 🙂
My friend, I think you are misconstruing what I said. I did NOT say that the antecedent and the pronoun always match in case. A discussion of different grammatical cases of nouns & pronouns is a bit too technical for the purposes of the GMAT. Think of it this way. An ordinary English noun, including proper nouns, has two forms: possessive and (for lack of a better term) “non-possessive”: Mike’s vs. Mike, Abhinav’s vs. Abhinav. The “non-possessive” form is the default form of the noun, and this form can always be the antecedent for any pronoun of any case.
Fred read a book that he liked. (subjective pronoun)
Fred read a book that offended him. (objective pronoun)
Fred read a book and then lent it to his sister. (possessive pronoun)
Those are all correct. The “non-possessive” form of the noun, “Fred,” is the default form, and it can be the antecedent of any kind of pronoun.
If the antecedent is in the possessive, that’s problematic. As a general rule, a noun in the possessive cannot be in the antecedent. The exception is: if the pronoun is also in the possessive, and if no ambiguity arises, as in sentence 2a above, then that’s the only time the antecedent could possibly be in the possessive. An antecedent in the possessive is a special case that is only correct under very specific conditions. Any antecedent in the “non-possessive” is the general default case that is always correct, barring other unrelated problems (ambiguity, etc.).
Does all this make sense?
Mike 🙂
Hey Mike, Thank you very much for explaining it so well. Though I knew the uses, I still wanted to make it clear that technically I understand it correctly. Thanks for all your time.
Dear Abhinav,
You are quite welcome! Best of luck to you!
Mike 🙂
When we say ‘Antecedent,’we mean something that comes before a pronoun.
Check myth 4 in this link
Can we also use relative pronouns in the same way as other pronouns by checking most possible links instead of relying completely on ‘Touch Rule’.
Some books say relative pronouns can be used as conjunctions and can modify complete sentence.please,throw some light.
I am very grateful for your support.
Dear Brijesh,
To be honest, I do not have much respect for that source. Yes, the “antecedent” almost always comes before the pronoun — that’s precisely what the word “antecedent” means, “thing that comes before.” Relative pronouns begin relative clauses, which are noun modifiers. Like all noun modifiers, they usually obey the Touch Rule, but the important exception is the issue of Vital Noun Modifiers. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-grammar-vital-noun-modifiers/
On the GMAT, relative pronouns absolutely cannot modify complete sentences. Please don’t look at general grammar sources which are not speaking about the GMAT, because there are kinds of different preferences and different perspective. You need to limit yourself to sources that know thoroughly the standards of the GMAT.
Does all this make sense?
Mike 🙂
I have become a big fan of all your articles.
Please help us in demystifying ‘Comma Usage,’I think some conventions like FANBOYS and others are not always applied.
HATS OFF TO YOU SIR
Brijesh 🙂
Dear Brijesh,
Thank you very much for your kind words, my friend. Unfortunately, these blogs are not the place to ask for help on all topics under the sun. If you would like more help with something not discussed here, please open a new thread in the Magoosh section of GMAT Club:
http://gmatclub.com/forum/magoosh-324/
Thank you again for your compliments.
Mike 🙂
hi mike,
i have a doubt.” through them they” can you explain they refers to which noun & them refers to which noun. .
Dear Anubhav,
In that question, choice (A) is WRONG. As I explain in this article, it makes a classic pronoun mistake. The OA of that question is (D). I would suggest reading through the sentence with (D) in place, and I believe everything will make sense.
Mike 🙂
Mike
Can you please shed some light on the difference between usage of ‘these’ and ‘them’ in choices B and D respectively. If the parts before comma were same in the two options, which one of them would be the correct option?
Dear Gaurav,
Both are perfectly correct. If the portions before the comma were identical, there would be no valid way to choose between them, because each would completely acceptable. Does this make sense?
Mike 🙂
Hi Mike,
Can I start a sentence with a pronoun ?
Eg :
“It is the political situation in Syria that is causing the increase in gas prices”.
Here ‘it’ doesn’t have an antecedent .
Please advise .
Thanks ,
Vinay.
Dear Vinay,
An “it” without an antecedent is known as a “empty it” —- normally, the GMAT discourages these, but it can be acceptable for emphatic construction. See this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idioms-three-sophisticated-idioms/
Mike 🙂
Dear Mike,
I have two questions —
1) On example 2 — my understanding is possessive pronouns can refer to nouns in possessive. So “his” can refer to “Cicero’s”. Am I wrong ?
2) On example 1 — choice B, for a moment assume “as if to be law” is okay — then using “these” to refer to “decrees” is okay ? My understanding is “demonstrative pronouns” can appear only as adjective – so it should have been “these decrees”. Am I right on that split ?
Shailendra,
At least on the GMAT, a noun in the possessive cannot be the antecedent for ANY pronoun, even a possessive pronoun. Perhaps in other context, that would be acceptable, but not on the GMAT.
As for your second question — demonstrative pronouns are pronouns, so they can be used to modify nouns, but it’s also perfectly appropriate to use then as free-standing pronoun, just as we would use any other pronoun.
Mike 🙂
Hi Mike,
Please see this Agastha Christie question from MGMAT —
http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post36902.html#p36902
They mention Possessive Poison is not the rule to be followed on GMAT.
Normally, I would agree with what MGMAT has to say, but in this instance, I have never seen the cases they are discussing in official material. I will continue to disagree with them, although I believe we are probably in a region so specialized that it will never appear on the GMAT.
Mike 🙂
Hi Mike,
Can you please explain where can we use the pronoun ‘THIS’. I guess it is wrong most of the time but where can it be used. Thanks.
Dear Karla,
That’s a great question. In colloquial English, we use “this” as a pronoun all the time, but I don’t know that I have seen it on the GMAT SC. The GMAT will use as “this” as an adjective — “this company”, “this person”, etc. —- but I have not seen it much as a pronoun on the GMAT.
Mike 🙂
Hi Mike,
I have some difficulty in understanding the first correct example in Trap 3.
“3) Fred came to town because he wanted to introduce his brother to his lawyer.”
I think the last possessive pronoun “his” is quite ambiguous, because it can refer to the lawyer of his brother, or Fred’s lawyer.
Am I right on this? Hope for your reply.
Dear Dhler,
You’re right — there was an ambiguity there, so I changed the example sentence. It should be clear now. Thank you for pointing this out.
Mike 🙂
While the Senate of the Roman Republic did not have the power to enact laws, their decrees generally were obeyed like law, and through them they exercised considerable influence.
In this Question, isn’t should be –> While the Senate of the Roman Republic did not has
instead of –>While the Senate of the Roman Republic did not have ??
has instead of have?