The World for Freedom

Pronouns and the SHSAT

Pronouns must agree with their antecedents (The word the pronoun is replacing is the antecedent.), both nouns and pronouns. This means that if the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must be singular. If the antecedent is plural, or 3rd person, the pronoun must be plural. They are as follows:

Subject		Object
	Singular
I		Me
You		You
He, She, It		Him, Her, It
	Plural
We		Us
You		You
They		Them

Singular Pronoun with 2 Antecedents If you have two antecedents,

The teacher asked the question to Jane and Joan and she answered correctly.
Who is the “she” referring to, Jane or Joan?


Exercises: Correct the sentences to make them proper.
1. I spoke with Bill and John and he agreed to help.
2. Even though they worked on the project together, Ralph told Chris that he did more work.
3. After Bill waited for Jim for over an hour, he told him that he was angry.
4. Rex knew that if Chris and Mark didn’t learn the material, he would fail the class.
5.Mary called Melisa and Karen on the phone, but she didn’t answer.

Pronouns’ antecedents must be clear & pronouns must match the ideas or clauses. Exercises: Correct the sentences to make them proper.
1. Boys these days seem to have a hard time sitting patiently, focusing on their work, and listening to the teacher, and that’s why, more boys diagnosed with ADHD than girls are diagnosed with the disorder.
2. Rocket scientists must study math, physics and aerodynamics, so this is what earns them the big bucks.
3. Bill rides bikes, mopeds, and scooters, but that’s not all he can do.
4. Janey can speak Korean, German, and English, and that’s why she will become a linguist.
5. Jim talks a lot of nonsense about people, these won’t make him many friends.

Pronouns must refer to something specific.
Sam smashed his scooter into a pole, but it was not damaged.
What was smashed, the pole or the scooter? It's unclear.

Exercises: Correct the sentences to make them proper.
1.They went to volunteer to help students.
2.We will help them to complete their project.
3.I was holding a watermelon then, lifted up my cart over the curb by the handle, and it smashed to the ground.
4.You should try ballet or gymnastics, it is a great work out.
5. Whenever we walk up the mountain to get spring water, it is great.

Pronoun Verb Agreement

Pronouns and verbs must agree with their subjects.

Exercises: Correct the sentences to make them proper.
1. Hank and Jonet always works hard on projects for her class.
2. The boy create a new way to play the game.
3. A soldier are going to march to the officer.
4. The doctor, an expert among his peers, are going to the hospital.
5.The audience, filled with musicians, are clapping energetically for the famous band themselves.
6.Each of the students drew their own comics, in order for him to pass.
7.The flock of birds flew high in the sky until they needed to rest.
8.A manager in the company will meet with the employees when it has time.
9.Everybody learns their lines to be in the play.
10.My brother picked up the puppies and put it in the box.

Or- The noun closest to “or” is what is used to determine whether the verb changes or stays the same.

Exercises: Correct the sentences to make them proper.
1. Bill or James eat the most.
2. The boys or mom are going to come home first.
3. My uncle or cousin is coming here by three to drop off photos.
4. My mother or father cooks breakfast every morning.
5. John or Jane brings food the homeless for our church.

Either...or, neither...nor These correlative conjunctions confuse many students who don’t know that the verb agrees with the subject closer to the verb. Either... or

Exercises: Correct the sentences to make them proper.
1. Either Bill or William are working tonight.
2. Either the janitors or the plumber are mopping up the water.
3. Either you or I are going to pitch the ball in the game.
4. Either the chief or the sheriff order the citizens to disperse.
5. Either my mom or my dad wake me up for school.

Neither or Nor

Exercises: Correct the sentences to make them proper.


1. Neither Chris nor Steve are ready to go yet.
2. Neither the teachers nor the Principal discipline the students.
3. Neither he nor she are able to run fast.
4. Neither the horse nor the ox is strong enough to move the truck.
5. Neither the doctor nor the nurses touches a patient without signed consent.

And vs- Along with, as well as, besides, in addition, in addition to, including. When two or more subjects are connected with “and”, use a plural verb to connect them.
And

Exercises: Correct the sentences to make them proper.

1.My bike and scooter is both broken.
2.My uncle and aunt was continuously calling for their dog.
3.Jim and Masako is trying to be class president.
4.Hyo and Jin are the primary example of a good student.
5.My heart and lungs work perfectly.

Along with, as well as, besides, in addition, etc.
When the subject(s) are separated from the verb by these types of words or expressions, ignore them and focus on the subject.
1.The principal, along with the faculty, are competing against the students.
2.Chris, as well as Joe, play soccer very well.
3.The smell of the house, including every room are terrible.
4.The groups at the seminar, besides the adolescents, need to pay an entrance fee.
5.The very intelligent teacher, in addition to his students, enters the classroom at 7:45 AM.

SHSAT Type Pronoun Questions

1- Scientists have long known that soot particles facilitate melting by darkening snow and ice, limiting it’s ability to reflect the Sun’s rays.

A) NO CHANGE B) its C) there D) their

2- The article goes on to suggest that the most valuable resources provided by coworking spaces are actually the people whom use them.

A) NO CHANGE B) whom uses C) who uses D) who use

3- Because today’s students can expect to hold multiple jobs—some of which may not even exist yet—during our lifetime, studying philosophy allows them to be flexible and adaptable.

A) NO CHANGE B) one’s C) his or her D) their

4- Businesses can install light tubes, these are pipes placed in work place roofs to capture and funnel sunlight down into a building’s interior.

A) NO CHANGE B) they are C) which are D) those being

5- Just as travelers taking road trips today may need to take a break for food at a rest area along the highway, settlers traversing the American West by train in the mid-1800s often found themselves in need of refreshment.

A) NO CHANGE B) himself or herself C) theirselves D) oneself

6- While 1-MCP keeps apples tight and crisp for months, it also limits their scent production.

A) NO CHANGE B) there C) its D) it’s

7- This may not be much of a problem with certain kinds of apples that are not naturally very fragrant, such as Granny Smith, but for apples that are prized for their fruity fragrance, such as McIntosh, this can be a problem with consumers, that will reject apples lacking the expected aroma.

A) NO CHANGE B) they C) which D) who

8- The plastic hardens quickly, it allows the printer to build the layers of the final model. Compared with older ways of modeling fossils, scanning and printing in this way is extremely versatile.

A) NO CHANGE B) this C) which D) that

9- In the past, such research was limited by the weight and bulk of the fossils as well as its preciousness and fragility.

A) NO CHANGE B) it’s C) their D) there

10- At it’s best, the system can give creators direct access to millions of potential backers.

A) NO CHANGE B) its C) its’ D) their

11-By subverting the presumption that money used for her project is an altruistic donation, the playwright showed that our work has monetary value to those who enjoy it.

A) NO CHANGE B) their C) her D) its

12- Ironically, the success of crowdfunding may weaken overall funding for the arts if people begin to feel that paying for the art loved by them is someone else’s responsibility.

A) NO CHANGE B) they love C) loved by him or her D) he or she loves

13- In the winter of 1968, scientists David Schindler and Gregg Brunskill poured nitrates and phosphates into Lake 1-227, this is one of the 58 fresh water bodies that compose Canada’s remotely located Experimental Lakes Area.

A) NO CHANGE B)227 Which is one C) 227. One D) 227, one

14- Italy’s Tower of Pisa has been leaning southward since the initial 12 stages of it’ s construction over 800 years ago.

A) NO CHANGE B) stage’s of its’ C) stage’s of it’s D) stages of its

15- By virtue of there medical training, PAs can perform many of the jobs traditionally done by doctors, including treating chronic and acute conditions, performing minor surgeries: and prescribing some medications.

A) NO CHANGE B) they’re C) their D) his or her

16- Moreover, the training period for PAs is markedly shorter than those for physicians—two to three years versus the seven to eleven required for physicians.

A) NO CHANGE B) that compared with C) that for D) them

17- For both commercial and, arguably, creative reasons, then, no transition was more successful than those from the Golden to Silver Age.

A) NO CHANGE B) these C) that D) them

18- During their early years, the movement also focused on the value of spending lots of time with friends and family during long meals.

A) NO CHANGE B) there C) its D) it’s

19- As the parade winds its way through Chinatown, the music crescendos, and the lion dance reaches it’s climax with the “plucking of the greens”.

A) NO CHANGE B) its C) there D) their

20- The bacteria have evolved to use hydrogen sulfide instead of sunlight for the energy that drives their metabolic processes, and hydrothermal venting is the source of the chemical soup necessary to support him or her.

A) NO CHANGE B) one. C) them. D) it.

21- In 2013 Tallinn, Estonia, instituted fare-free rides for city residents (becoming the largest city in the world to do so), but car use in Tallinn has only slightly declined; as a 2014 study by the K.T.H. Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden found that car traffic in Tallinn was down less than 3 percent since it was enacted.

A) NO CHANGE B) that C) one D) the policy

22- Upon the arrival of the digital camera, professional photographers harrumphed that they produced ugly, low-resolution images.

A) NO CHANGE B) it C) one D) he or she

23- To take a wet plate photograph, photographers usually first arrange or pose it’s subjects before mixing collodion (a viscous, light-sensitive chemical solution) with bromide, iodide, or chloride and applying the mixture to a clean, polished glass plate.

A) NO CHANGE B) its C) there D) their

24- Through such discoveries, they tell the story of a city’s history in a new way

A) NO CHANGE B) we C) colonial-era New Yorkers D) urban archaeologists

25- The bipeds, on the other hand, are far less arboreal, leaving their forelimbs relatively free for tasks in whom handedness may confer an evolutionary advantage.

A) NO CHANGE B) which C) what D) whose

26- It took me by surprise, then, when my favorite exhibit at the museum was one of it’s tiniest; the Thorne Miniature Rooms.

A) NO CHANGE B) its tiniest; C) its tiniest: D) it’s tiniest,

27- Like their terrestrial plant cousins, kelp removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turning it into sugar fuel through photosynthesis, and releases oxygen back into the air.

A) NO CHANGE B) they’re C) its D) it’s