College Composition / Unit 5 CMP 0117 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Pronouns Across a Paragraph
The idea
Pronoun clarity has to hold across a whole paragraph, not only within each sentence.
In practice
Check in order. First, notice when a new noun enters the paragraph; after that point, a pronoun may now point to it instead of the earlier one. Second, check sentences that begin with it, this or they, since they lean on the sentence before. Third, if they refers to one person in one sentence and to a group in the next, rename one of them. Fourth, keep a group singular or plural throughout. Fifth, reread the paragraph replacing every pronoun with the noun you intended, and see whether it still says what you meant.
Where people slip
A paragraph can have no single error and still confuse, because the reader's sense of who is acting drifts. When two people or groups appear, naming them again at the start of a sentence restores the reader's footing.
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