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Showing posts with the label avoiding writing problems

AVOIDING WRITING PROBLEMS

                                      A pronoun should never refer to more than one noun phrase. Whenever a pronoun may refer to more than one noun phrase, your reader will be confused.       What is confusing about this sentence? The passengers waited all night while the airplane mechanic and her assistant worked to repair the engine. By morning, they were exhausted. The reader cannot tell whether ‘they’ refer to ‘passengers’ or ‘airplane’ ‘mechanic’ and ‘her assistant.’ The use of the pronoun ‘they’ is said to be ambiguous.      What is confusing about these sentences? The cat knocked over the table with the lamp on it, and it broke. Ned was riding his horse over the bridge when it fell into the water with him on it. There are too many books on those shelves. If you are not careful, they’ll fall. Watch out for ambiguous pronouns!   Any time you use a pronoun to replace a noun phrase, make sure the pronoun refers only to that noun phrase and not t