Pronoun Referents

In reading test you will sometimes be asked to determine to which noun a pronoun refers.

In a pronoun reference question, it is important to understand that a noun is generally used first in a passage, and the pronoun that refers to it comes after. Whenever you are asked which noun a pronoun refers to, you should look before the pronoun to find the noun.
The following that you should remember about pronoun referents :
1. How to identify the question.
The pronoun ''........'' in line X refers to which of the following?
2. Where to find the answer.
The pronoun is highlighted in the passage. The noun that the pronoun refers to is generally found before the pronoun.
3. How to answer the question.
- Locate the pronoun in the passage,
- Look before the pronoun for nouns that agree to with the pronoun,
- Try each of the nouns in the context in place of pronoun.
- Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices.


Read this sentence !!!
Caesar was a powerful military general with a huge army at his feet that made him the great ruler he was.

What is it that made Caesar "a powerful military general"? The writer means—or, at least, I hope he means!—that it was Caesar's army "that made him the great ruler he was." But, as the sentence stands, "that" goes with Caesar's "feet." Am I to conclude that, according to this author, Caesar's feet made him a great ruler?

The sentence when read as it's written—and technically it's the only way to read the sentence!—contains a factual error, since I can assure you that, while Caesar's life included many amazing feats, his feet were not among them. This type of error is common in student papers. The basic problem here is that the referent of a pronoun—that is, what the pronoun refers to—is unclear. So, make sure it's self-evident what every "that" or "this" refers to in your writing, or "who" or "they" or any pronoun you use.

What is a pronoun? The definition of a pronoun is "a word used in the place of or as a substitute for a noun." The most common pronouns in English—and the ones which cause most problems in terms of their referents—are who/whom, he/him/his, she/her, it/its, or they/them/their.

Example :                          

I bought wood chair in Sidoarjo last night. It colour is Yellow. 

Here's an example where the referent of a pronoun is unclear. "Sparta attacked Athens, and they won." Who are "they"? While it may seem to the writer like he's saying the Spartans won, the sentence itself doesn't say that, at least not the way it's written. It says "Sparta," which is a city, and as a city is not a "they" but an "it." By the same logic which claims Sparta equals "they," one might infer Athens is also "they." The statement could, then, be taken to mean the Athenians won when the Spartans attacked, which is historically incorrect. So, as always, in order for me to assess what you know, I have to see precisely what you mean. And that means making it clear what "it" or "they" or any pronoun you use refers to.

There's a simple way to test whether your pronouns are right. Since a pronoun stands in place of a noun, look back over your sentence and see what's the last possible thing to which any pronoun you've written might refer—singular or plural—and if the last possible thing is the proper referent, your use of the pronoun is correct. For instance, if you write "The Spartans attacked Athens and they won," since the closest plural noun to "they" is Spartans, your sentence is correct because the Spartans did, in fact, win the Peloponnesian War.