Pronouns for clarity
Choose pronouns for clarity and cohesion, avoiding ambiguity and repetition; use reflexive pronouns correctly (e.g., myself, ourselves, himself)
What a learner can do afterwards
- Replace repeated nouns with pronouns to improve cohesion: rewrite 'Sam picked up Sam's bag' as 'Sam picked up his bag'
- Use reflexive pronouns correctly in sentences (e.g. 'I made it myself', 'They helped themselves')
- Identify and fix ambiguous pronoun references (e.g. 'Tom told Jack he was late' — who was late?)
The lesson
You already know pronouns like he, she, it, and they. They stop you from repeating the same name again and again. But watch out: if a pronoun could point to more than one person, your reader gets confused about who you mean.
Fix a confusing pronoun by naming the person again: 'Tom told Jack that Jack was late.' It repeats a name once, but now everyone knows exactly who was late.
Reflexive pronouns end in -self or -selves: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. Use one when the same person does the action and gets it done. 'I made it myself' means nobody helped me.
Quick trick: if a pronoun could mean more than one person, swap in the name. And match reflexive pronouns to the doer: one person gets -self, more than one gets -selves.
Swap in a name when a pronoun is unclear, and match reflexive pronouns like myself and ourselves to who is really doing the action.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.