Page 20 - The Vocabulary Expander US Grades 6-8

LANGUAGE PROGRESSIVE SKILLS

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g
niz
Recognize and Correct Pronouns
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Language Progressive skills are important for more than one grade. You will need to be
able to ‘recognize and correct’ these errors over the years, as you will be dealing with more
sophisticated vocabulary and grammar. They need ‘continued attention’. We will look at
some of the skills which are important to master as you progress through the grades.
One particularly tricky area is pronouns. We need to look out for:
• shifts in pronoun number and person
• vague pronouns with ambiguous antecedents

A Shifts in person happen when you combine first, second or third pronouns with each
other. Underline, highlight or write out the pronoun which creates an inappropriate shift in
person and put the correct one in parentheses.
He asked her if you could join him later at the farm.

The error is underlined. This has moved from third to second person (from ‘her’ to ‘you’)
which is confusing. It should be ‘she’.

first person I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours

second person you, your, yours

third person he, him, his, she, her, hers, they, them, their, theirs, it, its

1. After Sami had completed his homework, we went to the park. ____________

2. You enjoyed the breakfast so much that I had it again. ____________
3. We sailed down the river in the canoe and he arrived safely. ____________

4. My birthday was coming up and they could not wait. ____________

B Fill the gaps with the correct singular pronoun from the choices below. Keep the person
the same.

he me your mine you
its she hers my his

1. Nina had forgotten her purse, and ____________ could not buy the groceries.

2. I noticed that my sister was wearing boots which were identical to ____________.
3. You cannot take part in the wrestling lesson if you do not have ___________ kit.

4. Edith was claiming that the book on my desk was ____________.

5. A lion was stealthily stalking ____________ prey.
6. Mr. Jones wrote ____________ classroom rules on the board.

7. My father said that ____________ had to stop at the gas station for petrol.
8. I could not get into the concert as I had forgotten to bring ____________ ticket.

9. As you headed along the path, ____________ could see the mountains above.
10. I did not want anyone to sit next to ____________ on the train.
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