Pronoun Exercise: Recasting a Paragraph With Pronouns

If you need help learning to use pronouns in context, you're in the right place. This exercise will give you practice using the different forms of personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, and possessive determiners all in a single (long) paragraph.

Practice Using Pronouns

Rewrite the following paragraph, an unusual paragraph because it contains no pronouns, by substituting an appropriate pronoun for each italicized word or group of words. For example, the first sentence might be rewritten in this way:

Read More

Editing Exercise: Correcting Errors in Pronoun Reference

By Richard Nordquist

The fortune teller moved her dry, shriveled hands over the glass ball that she had bought at a dollar store a long time ago.

There are multiple correct options, just remember to be consistent. Read over the final paragraph with your chosen pronouns to check for clarity and then compare your paragraph with the revised paragraph below.

'The Fortune Teller': No Pronouns

The fortune teller moved the fortune teller's dry, shriveled hands over the glass ball that the fortune teller had bought at a dollar store a long time ago. The fortune teller could hear the laughter and the occasional shouts of the children as the children ran outside from ride to ride and from tent to tent. The children never came in to see the fortune teller. Instead it was always the face of a laid-off dock worker or a romantic teenager that peered through the entrance way of the fortune teller's tent. The unemployed dock workers wanted to hear about winning lottery tickets and new job opportunities. The teenagers were eager to hear stories about far away places and dark, mysterious strangers. And so the fortune teller always told the dock workers and the teenagers what the dock workers and the teenagers wanted to hear. The fortune teller liked giving the dock workers and the teenagers something to dream about. The fortune teller tried to fill the minds of the dock workers and the teenagers with great expectations. Just then, a young man appeared in the entrance way. The young man was nervous, and the smile of the young man was timid. The young man shuffled into the dark tent, the young man's head full of dreams and yet, at the same time, innocently empty. The fortune teller took the trembling hands of the young man into the fortune teller's own hands, and peered at the revealing lines etched on the palms of the young man. Then, slowly, in the cracked, ancient voice of the fortune teller, the fortune teller began to speak of new job opportunities, far away places, and dark, mysterious strangers.

'The Fortune Teller': With Pronouns

The fortune teller moved her dry, shriveled hands over the glass ball that she had bought at a dollar store a long time ago. She could hear the laughter and the occasional shouts of the children as they ran outside from ride to ride and from tent to tent. They never came in to see her. Instead it was always the face of a laid-off dock worker or a romantic teenager that peered through the entrance way of her tent. The unemployed dock workers wanted to hear about winning lottery tickets and new job opportunities. The teenagers were eager to hear stories about far away places and dark, mysterious strangers. And so the fortune teller always told them what they wanted to hear. She liked giving them something to dream about. She tried to fill their minds with great expectations. Just then, a young man appeared in the entrance way. He was nervous, and his smile was timid. He shuffled into the dark tent, his head full of dreams and yet, at the same time, innocently empty. The fortune teller took his trembling hands into her own hands and peered at the revealing lines etched on his palms. Then, slowly, in her cracked, ancient voice, she began to speak of new job opportunities, far away places, and dark, mysterious strangers.