ACT® · English: Usage Conventions
Pronouns That Point at a Whole Idea
A pronoun like 'which,' 'this,' or 'it' needs one clear noun to point back to. When it points at a whole clause or at nothing at all, the fix is to name what it means.
Pronouns work like claim tickets: they stand in for something specific that already got checked. 'Which' and 'this' are supposed to point back at a noun. The trouble starts when a sentence gives them a whole situation instead. 'The budget failed by twelve votes, which upset everyone in the room' hands 'which' two candidates: the failing, or the twelve-vote margin, or the whole event. The reader can guess, but guessing is not the same as the sentence actually saying it.
The fix is almost always the same move: give the pronoun a noun to hold, or replace it with the real subject. 'The budget failed by twelve votes, a result that upset everyone' names the result directly. 'This' works the same way: instead of leaving it to gesture vaguely at the whole previous sentence, attach a noun right after it, as in 'this delay' or 'this decision.' Suddenly the word is doing a job instead of waving in a general direction.
'It says in the article' fails for a related reason, even though no reader is actually confused. 'It' has no noun to refer back to at all; 'article' hasn't appeared yet, and 'it' is just filler standing where a real subject belongs. The sentence reads cleaner once the article itself becomes the subject: 'The article reports.' This topic sits right next to subject-verb agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement in number: all three are about making sure every pronoun or verb is locked to one clear, named word, not to a vibe.
Key terms
- Antecedent
- The specific noun a pronoun is supposed to replace or point back to.
- Broad reference
- A pronoun error where the pronoun points at an entire idea or clause instead of one named noun.
- Demonstrative pronoun
- A pointing word like 'this,' 'that,' 'these,' or 'those' used in place of a noun.
- Empty pronoun
- A pronoun such as 'it' or 'there' used as filler with no real noun behind it, as in 'It says in the article.'
Watch it explained
- How it worksHow does a pronoun like 'this' or 'which' go hunting for a noun and come back with a whole clause?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't 'It says in the article' acceptable when every reader knows perfectly well what it means?
- Going furtherWhat changes when you hand a broad 'this' a noun to hold, as in 'this delay' or 'this decision'?
Check yourself
End of topic.