Identify the Function and Structure of Pronouns

Anna decided at the beginning of Anna’s first semester of college that Anna would run for thirty minutes every day. Anna knew that Anna would be taking a literature class with a lot of reading, so instead of buying print copies of all the novels Anna’s teacher assigned, Anna bought the audiobooks. That way Anna could listen to the audiobooks as Anna ran.

Does this paragraph feel awkward to you? Let’s try it again using pronouns:

Anna decided at the beginning of her first semester of college that she would run for thirty minutes every day. She knew that she would be taking a literature class with a lot of reading, so instead of buying hard copies of all the novels her teacher assigned, Anna bought the audiobooks. That way she could listen to them as she ran.

This second paragraph is much more natural. Instead of repeating nouns multiple times, we were able to use pronouns. You’ve likely hear the phrase “a pronoun replaces a noun”; this is exactly what a pronoun does.

In this outcome, you’ll learn how pronouns work, how to use pronouns in different situations, and how to select the correct pronouns.

What You Will Learn to Do

• identify functions of pronouns
• identify pronoun person and number
• identify pronoun case (subjects, objects, possessives)
• identify pronoun and antecedent clarity
• identify pronoun and antecedent agreement

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