Using pronouns correctly

A pronoun (e.g. its, they, this, that, she, them) is a word that is used instead of a noun or name to refer to people and things. A short presentation can be more effective than a long talk, because the audience may lose track of its main point. Always re-read your sentences to make sure that any pronoun references are clear. Small mistakes can cause significant confusion for your reader, as this example shows. Using a pronoun carefully to avoid confusion Look at this sentence from an essay on EU business activity. Both parties signed the contract at the same time as the confidentiality agreement, and passed it to the lawyers. What’s wrong: It must be clear what ‘it’ refers to: the contract or the confidentiality agreement. Here are two possible ways of doing this: Both parties signed the contract at the same time as the confidentiality agreement, and passed the contract to the lawyers. Both parties signed the contract at the same time as the confidentiality agreement, and passed the former to the lawyers.