Eleventh grade students face a challenging year. Beyond taking rigorous courses such as American literature, American history and chemistry, students are faced with three important tests during their junior year: the PSAT, SAT and the ACT. Students generally take the PSAT in the early fall and the SAT in the spring. While not all students plan to take the ACT in the fall, it is recommended, as students can take this test as many times as necessary to earn their best score for college applications.
Good study skills must be practiced when preparing for standardized tests. In the writing portion of each of these tests, pronoun usage is commonly assessed. Therefore, students should study pronoun rules as part of their test preparation. Here are two common types of errors involving pronouns.
Pronoun Switch
Students must be aware of the ways pronouns are used in a particular sentence. If they are referring to the same noun, pronouns should remain consistent throughout the sentence. That is, a sentence referring to a girl cannot have “she” mentioned earlier in the sentence and “you” mentioned later in the sentence if they are both meant to refer back to a girl. The following sentences illustrate sentences that switch pronouns erroneously.
- If you want to save money, one should open a savings account.
- They have always wanted a dog, so she decided to visit the animal shelter.
- When someone decides to go to college, he should first investigate all local options.
In the first sentence, "you" switches to "one." Either pronoun could be used correctly in the sentence, but once a pronoun is selected it must be used throughout. In the second sentence, a plural pronoun, "they," is first used; then, the pronoun switches to "she." Again, this sentence should use the same pronoun throughout. In this case, "she" should be switched to "they." In the last sentence, "someone" is first used, and then the pronoun "he" is used in the second half. For a more effective sentence, "he" should be changed to "one" so that this is consistent with the first pronoun.
Pronouns Used in the Wrong Number
A second common type of pronoun error found on the PSAT, SAT and the ACT involves pronouns being used in the wrong number; that is, singular pronouns are used when they should be plural or plural pronouns are used when they should be singular. To identify these types of errors, students should pay careful attention to the nouns to which the pronouns refer. Here are a couple of examples.
- The junior class wants to be remembered for their community service efforts.
- Most students long to graduate from high school, so that he may join the work force or attend college.
In the first example, the noun is "junior class." This noun is singular, for there is only one class. Therefore, the pronoun referring back to class should also be singular. In this case, "their" must be changed to "its." In the second example, "students" is a plural noun and requires a plural pronoun to refer back to it. The existing pronoun, "he," should be changed to "they" so that the pronoun consistently follows the original noun.
Preparing for the PSAT, SAT and ACT can be stressful and requires detailed planning. Studying common grammar errors is a great starting point for the language sections. Students who struggle with pronouns should practice reading sentences aloud, trying to listen for errors as they read. Also, students should begin their pronoun study by always attempting to locate which noun in a sentence that pronoun is intending to replace. Pronoun switch and pronouns used in the wrong number are common errors frequently tested on the PSAT, SAT, and ACT. Therefore, students allow themselves sufficient practice with a variety of sentence to adequately prepare for these tests.
Thadra Petkus - Thadra Petkus is currently a freelance writer, English teacher and mentor. Although she has taught students from age two through ...
