ตัวอย่างข้อสอบgmat PRONOUN ERRORS

_{PRONOUN ERRORS}

A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun, known as the antecedent of the pronoun. The key point for the use of pronouns is this: pronouns must agree with their antecedents in both number (singular or plural) and person (first, second, or third).

Example:

Steve has yet to receive his degree.

Here, the pronoun his refers to the noun Steve.

Following is a list of the most common pronouns:

PRONOUNS

Singular	Plural	Both Singular and Plural
I, me	we, us	any
she, her	they	none
he, him	them	all
it	these	most
anyone	those	more
either	some	who
each	that	which
many a	both	what
nothing	ourselves	you
one	any
another	many
everything	few
mine	several
his, hers	others
this
that

Reference

A pronoun should be plural when it refers to two nouns joined by and.

Example:

Jane and Katarina believe they passed the final exam.

The plural pronoun they refers to the compound subject Jane and Katarina.

A pronoun should be singular when it refers to two nouns joined by or or nor.

Faulty Usage

Neither Jane nor Katarina believes they passed the final.

Correct: Neither Jane nor Katarina believes she passed the final.

A pronoun should refer to one and only one noun or compound noun.

This is probably the most common error on the GMAT. If a pronoun follows two nouns, it is often unclear which of the nouns the pronoun refers to.

Faulty Usage

The breakup of the Soviet Union has left nuclear weapons in the hands of unstable, nascent countries. It is imperative to world security that they be destroyed.

Although one is unlikely to take the sentence to mean that the countries must be destroyed, that interpretation is possible from the structure of the sentence. It is easily corrected:

The breakup of the Soviet Union has left nuclear weapons in the hands of unstable, nascent countries. It is imperative to world security that these weapons be destroyed.

Faulty Usage

In Somalia, they have become jaded by the constant warfare.

This construction is faulty because they does not have an antecedent. The sentence can be corrected by replacing they with people:

In Somalia, people have become jaded by the constant warfare.

Better: The people of Somalia have become jaded by the constant warfare.

In addition to agreeing with its antecedent in number, a pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person.

Faulty Usage

One enters this world with no responsibilities. Then comes school, then work, then marriage and family. No wonder, you look longingly to retirement.

In this sentence, the subject has changed from one (third person) to you (second person). To correct the sentence either replace one with you or vice versa:

You enter this world with no responsibilities. Then comes school, then work, then marriage and family. No wonder, you look longingly to retirement.

One enters this world with no responsibilities. Then comes school, then work, then marriage and family. No wonder, one looks longingly to retirement.

Example:

In the following sentence, part or all of the sentence is underlined. The answer-choices offer five ways of phrasing the underlined part. If you think the sentence as written is better than the alternatives, choose A, which merely repeats the underlined part; otherwise choose one of the alternatives.

Had the President's Administration not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.

(A) Had the President's Administration not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.
(B) If the Administration had not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.
(C) Had the President's Administration not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, it would have been rated an A.
(D) Had the President's Administration not lost the vote on its budget reduction package, his first year in office would have been rated an A.
(E) If the President had not lost the vote on the budget reduction package, the Administration's first year in office would have been rated an A.

Choice (A) is incorrect because his appears to refer to the President, but the subject of the subordinate clause is the President's Administration, not the President.

Choice (B) changes the structure of the sentence, but retains the same flawed reference.

In choice (C), it can refer to either the President's Administration or the budget reduction package. Thus, the reference is ambiguous.

Choice (D) adds another pronoun, its, but still retains the same flawed reference.

Choice (E) corrects the flawed reference by removing all pronouns. The answer is (E).