Correcting Pronoun Errors: Ambiguity - SAT Writing

It is unclear if the “him” refers to John or Michael. The correct answer makes it clear with whom I side.

It is unclear if the “him” refers to Kennedy or Nixon. The correct answer makes it clear with whom I agree.

The use of the pronoun "them" in this sentence is confusing, as it is unclear who "them" is referring. "Them" needs to be changed to something more concrete. Only one answer choice, "never allowing people to see him," does this, which makes it the correct answer choice.

The use of the simple objective pronoun "him" in the sentence is odd and confusing, as it is unclear who exactly that usage is referring to. The pronoun should be changed to the reflexive pronoun, "himself." Therefore, the correct answer choice is "He always tried to send a copy of each newsletter to himself for his records before he sent it to the rest of his colleagues."

The use of "him" as the object of the sentence is extremely confusing, as it could refer to the subject or the "guru." To clarify this issue, the reflexive pronoun can be used to refer back to the subject of the sentence. The answer choice that appropriately uses the reflexive pronoun is "began to make improvements in himself."

The use of "him" at the end of the sentence is confusing. With the subject of the sentence being the third person pronoun, the object can be the reflexive pronoun and refer back to the subject. Therefore, the correct answer choice is "to the point of ignoring himself."

The use of "him" in the underlined portion of the sentence is confusing, and needs to more clearly refer to a specific individual. The use of the reflexive pronoun can make it clear that the pronoun refers to the "commanding officer." The only answer choice that uses the reflexive pronoun is "which caught up with the entire unit and himself."

The use of the simple pronoun "him" is confusing in this sentence, as it is unclear exactly who the pronoun refers to, the subject or some other person. The best way to clear this confusion up is by using the reflexive pronoun "himself" to refer back to the subject. Thus, the correct answer choice is "to pamper himself with nice meals on the road."

The use of "him" as the object of the dependent clause in the sentence is confusing, as it is unclear if it refers to the subject of the sentence or to someone else. This confusion can be cleared up by using the reflexive pronoun that can refer back to the subject, "himself." Therefore, the correct answer choice is "enough left over so he can pay himself."

The use of "him" as the object of the sentence is confusing, as it is unclear who exactly is being referred to. As the only person mentioned in the sentence is the subject, the final pronoun needs to be the reflexive pronoun, so that it can refer back to the subject. Therefore, the correct answer choice is the only one that uses a reflexive pronoun, "an extra copy of every article for himself."

The use of "him" at the end of the sentence is confusing and awkward, as it is not clear to whom the pronoun is referring. Changing the simple pronoun to a reflexive pronoun allows the pronoun to refer back to the subject of the sentence clearly. Thus, the correct answer choice is "that only benefitted himself."

The use of "him" at the end of this sentence is confusing and strange, as it does not properly refer back to the subject of the sentence. One might normally replace "him" with "himself," but another option, introducing "his own" as a modifier of abilities, creates a shorter and clearer sentence, so "only confident about his own abilities" is the correct answer.

The use of the simple pronoun "him" at the end of this sentence is confusing, as it is unclear whether this refers to the subject of the sentence or to some other person. This confusion can be cleared up by making the pronoun the reflexive pronoun "himself," which refers back to the subject of the sentence. As the only answer choice to properly use the reflexive pronoun "himself," the correct answer choice is "making everything more difficult for himself."

The original sentence has an unclear referent. Only the choice with Velma's name clarifies that Velma is indeed the individual who crossed in the middle of the street, as opposed to the taxi driver.

This phrase must have a pronoun and a possessive pronoun which refer to all three individuals: "we" and "our."

In the answer choice "she always goes to our favorite restaurant," the pronoun “she” does not agree with the subject of “Sheila, Veronica, and I”—it should be “we.”

In the answer choice "we always go to her favorite restaurant," the possessive pronoun “her” should be “our,” as it refers to a restaurant preferred by all three subjects. Though this sentence could be correct, it is not the best option because “her” is not specified.

In the answer choice "we always went to our favorite restaurant," the verb “go” must agree with the present tense of “spend,” so it is incorrect.

In the answer choice "they always go to their favorite restaurant," the pronouns “they” and “their” exclude “I” as a subject, so it is incorrect.

The sentence is faulty because it uses a pronoun with an ambiguous antecedent. The reader can't be sure who either "they" or "them" is referring to -- the bankers or the computers. The error can be fixed by rearranging the sentence so that "they" is followed by the clarifying subject "bankers."

The sentence has a vague pronoun reference. The use of "their" before "prescriptions" is ambiguous because we do not know if "their" refers to the doctors' or the pharmacists' prescriptions. The sentence needs to clarify to whom the pronoun refers, so the best answer choice is the one that does this, "and many pharmacists regularly complain about doctors' prescriptions."

Answer choices "researchers have discovered several additional drugs that, when administered by a health care professional, has helped to reduce the risk of influenza" and "researchers have discovered several additional drugs that, when administered by a health care professional, helps in reducing the risk of influenza" contain subject-verb agreement errors because they use singular verbs—"helps" and "has helped"—rather than the plural verbs required by the plural noun "drugs."

The answer choices containing "they" as opposed to "researchers" are incorrect because they contain an ambiguous pronoun. We don't know to whom "they" refers.

The answer choice "researchers have discovered several additional drugs that, when administered by a health care professional, help to reduce the risk of influenza" is correct because it is the only answer choice that correctly avoids using an ambiguous pronoun and doesn't introduce any subject-verb agreement errors.

This is an example of an ambiguous pronoun. The "him" in "to give him away" in the original sentence could be applying to either the dog or the cat, so we must make clear that it is one or the other.

In sentences with multiple antecedents in a sentence, it is to be important to be extremely clear with pronoun usage (perhaps even avoiding pronouns altogether in order to avoid ambiguity). In the sentence above, "them" could refer to either "the overseers" or "the workers." The best way to correct the underlined portion of the sentence above is: "it was time for the workers to take a break."