English: Words That Agree

This is Unit Three, part two, of ACT Preparation. Part one closed by choosing between they and it; this part finishes pronouns, then turns to describing words and idioms. The habit is unchanged: look past what is nearest to what governs. For a pronoun, that is its antecedent and its job in the sentence; for a describing word, the word it describes. By the end you will be able to repair unclear pronoun reference across a paragraph. To choose the subjective or objective case. To hold a passage's point of view. To choose an adjective or an adverb, and the comparative or the superlative. And to test an idiomatic preposition and make four agreement repairs in one passage.

Five entries that finish pronouns: reference across a paragraph, case, and point of view.

Checking every pronoun in a paragraph.

ACT 0218 Fixing Pronoun Reference in a Paragraph

To check the pronouns in a paragraph, mark every pronoun, name each one's antecedent, and repair any where two nouns could fit or none is stated, by naming the noun or rewording. In the coach paragraph, she could be the coach or the captain, so name the captain; they has no antecedent, so name the trainers; and this points at no noun, so say the delay. An unclear pronoun can be grammatical and still fail: the test is whether a reader could name the antecedent without guessing.

Pronouns as subjects and as objects.

ACT 0219 Pronoun Case in Compounds

Pronouns used as subjects take the subjective case: I, he, she, we and they. Pronouns used as objects take the objective case: me, him, her, us and them. "Leo and I cooked"; "the chef thanked Leo and me." In a compound, drop the other noun and test the pronoun alone.

Who and whom.

ACT 0220 Who and Whom

Who is subjective and does the action; whom is objective and receives it, including after a preposition: "who called?" and "to whom did you send it?" In "she is the one who I think will win," the words I think change nothing: who is still the subject of will win.

Choosing the case, step by step.

ACT 0221 Choosing the Case

Find the pronoun's job, subject or object; if it sits in a compound, remove the other part and test it alone; and after than or as, finish the comparison in your head. "Between you and me": between is a preposition, so the objective me. "Mia and she presented first," because alone, she presented. "Faster than I," because finished, faster than I run. After than and as a sentence can be correct both ways with different meanings: "he likes the dog more than me" means more than he likes me; "more than I" means more than I like the dog.

A slide into the second person.

ACT 0222 No Shift Into You

Keep the point of view consistent: a passage written in the third person should not slide into you partway through. "Hikers should pack water, because you can dehydrate quickly" shifts; "because they can dehydrate quickly" holds. You belongs to direct address and instructions; in a passage about others, it is an accidental shift.

Six entries on describing words and idioms, and the whole unit in one passage.

Describing a noun, or describing an action.

ACT 0223 Adjective or Adverb

An adjective describes a noun or a pronoun. An adverb describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb, and often ends in l y. "She is a careful driver"; "she drives carefully." Good describes a noun; well describes how something is done, and is an adjective only when it means healthy, so he played well.

Comparing two, or three or more.

ACT 0224 Comparative and Superlative

The comparative compares two things and adds e r or more; the superlative compares three or more and adds e s t or most. "Of the two routes, this one is shorter"; "of all five, this is the shortest." Use one method, never both, so more faster is wrong. This rule rests on the witness, Writing for Success.

Describing words in a passage, step by step.

ACT 0225 Describing Words in Context

Find what the word describes: a noun or pronoun takes an adjective; a verb, an adjective or another adverb takes an adverb. If the word compares, count the things compared and use one method. In the bridge passage, quickly describes was built; three bridges make it the longest; feels links the ride to a description, so smooth; and safer compares two with one method. Verbs such as feels, looks and seems often link a subject to a description, and then the adjective is correct.

Prepositions that come with the word.

ACT 0226 Idiomatic Prepositions

Some verbs and adjectives pair with a fixed preposition, and the pair has its own meaning: apologize for, depend on, capable of, interested in. The witness, Writing for Success, calls these pairings unique to English, so they are learned as units, not worked out. Capable to is the error.

Testing a preposition, step by step.

ACT 0227 Testing a Preposition

Isolate the verb or adjective the preposition follows, say it with each choice alone, and keep the pairing whose meaning fits, because some words take different prepositions for different meanings. In the committee example, responsible for and capable of; applied for means asked formally, which fits a grant, while applied to means something else, as in the rule applies to every member. Hearing the pair alone is the method: a wrong idiom breaks no rule that can be stated, so only the pairing reveals it.

The whole unit in one passage.

ACT 0228 One Passage, Four Agreements

Every rule in this unit is a matching rule. A verb matches its subject, found by crossing out phrases, turning inverted sentences around and checking compounds. Everyone is singular, both and several plural, and some, most, all and none follow their noun; a group acting as one unit is singular. Verbs keep the governing tense, take the participle after have, and take were in an untrue condition. A pronoun matches its antecedent and its job, point of view stays where it started, and describing words match what they describe. In the orchestra passage: the box was empty, not the programs; everyone was silent; the orchestra thanked its audience, as the passage already used its; and the slide into you becomes "the applause could be heard from the street." Matching errors hide behind distance, so each repair looks past what is nearest to what governs.

Look at what you can now do. You can check every pronoun in a paragraph and name each antecedent without guessing. You can choose the case by the pronoun's job, testing compounds alone and finishing comparisons after than. You can keep a passage in the third person. You can choose an adjective or an adverb, and two or more, with one method of comparing. And you can hear an idiom alone and make four agreement repairs in one passage. Unit four moves from rules to choices: the precise word, and no more words than the sentence needs.