Pronoun referents

At times, when we are reading a text, we understand all the words that
constitute the text without really understanding what the writer wanted to say in
the text. Even if the vocabulary may seem as the most important element in the
comprehension of a text, many times we can have problems deciphering the
meaning because we don’t pay close attention to the words that connect the
ideas. So, when we don’t want to repeat the same word over and over (for
example, objects or people) we use pronouns (most commonly it, they, him,
her, one, ones, another, others, but we might also find relative, indefinite,
reflexive and intensive pronouns) to replace these objects within the text. For
example, in the sentences:

My friends like the beach in Playa del Carmen.

They say it is lovely.

Here, we have two pronouns: they, which is replacing my friends, and it, which
is replacing the beach in Playa del Carmen. We don’t need to repeat the whole
construction of the noun, we can only choose the correct pronoun to replace it.
Notice that we have to adjust the verb according to the pronoun (if it’s singular
or plural). The types of pronoun referents we mention above are: personal
pronouns (they refer to a specific person or thing and have different forms to
indicate a person, number or gender); subject personal pronouns (which are
pronouns that function as the subject of sentences, for example ‘We live in
Mexico City’ or ‘He is very interested in math’); we can also find the object
personal pronouns (pronouns that function as the object of sentences and
usually appear after a verb or a preposition, for example in ‘I told him to be
quiet’ or ‘The police officer asked us if we were alright’)

With the help of a dictionary, complete the following chart with the object
pronouns.
Us

Him / Her /

Possessive personal pronouns are pronouns that specify possession and are
also used in avoiding too much repetition. They refer to a person, or a group of
people, who own a certain object. (in the next sentences, the possessive
pronouns appear in bold letter):
The lamp you broke was mine.
My mother said the purse was hers.
Complete the following chart with the possessive pronouns.
 Mine

His / Hers / Theirs

The list is long and it does not stop here: possessive adjectives (my, their, your, its,
etc.), demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these) and adverbs (here, there, now,
then) can also refer to another part of the text without explicitly naming it, so don’t
forget to try to keep up with all these words.
Now, to practice the use of pronouns as referents in a text, choose the correct
pronoun to complete the sentences.

My father told __________ (we / us) about the new office.

Everybody knows those keys are __________ (I / mine)

__________ (He / Him) went out to the movies with __________ (she / her)

__________ (these / that) shoes are extremely expensive.

Someone told Sam and Linda that __________ (this / those) books weren’t
__________ (them / theirs).

Look at the following paragraph and the referents that connect ideas that are
located in different parts of it. The words in parenthesis are the referents for the
words in italics.

Along the Caribbean, we can find the state of Quintana Roo.

This state offers more than 38,000 square kilometers of lovely
jungle, sand, beaches and mysterious ancient ruins. One thing
that people find charming about this state is its (Quintana
Roo’s) little towns and small cities scattered across it (this
state). They are all so close from one another and each of them
(little towns and small cities) offers a treat for the visitors.

Complete the lines in the following extracts from the text with the referents that
have been omitted.

The Bacalar Lagoon, or small lake, is also called the Lagoon of

Seven Colors because the water appears to have many shades of
blue and green. It (_________________ ) is also very clear and
never deeper than six meters.
When the Mayans lived here, they (_________________ ) built
trails around the lagoon and lined them ( _________________ )
with white seashells. The seashells made it easier to see the path
at night, which is when most people would walk around the lake
because the temperature was cooler. This lake
(_________________ ) receives water from underground rivers
and cenotes.

In 1517, the Spanish landed their (_________________ ) ships on

mainland North America for the first time. They
(_________________ ) arrived at Cape Catoche on the Yucatan
Channel. Twenty-six years later in 1543, the Spanish
conquistadors conquered their (_________________ ) first city:
the Mayan city of Bacalar. Two years later in 1545, Spaniard
Gaspar Pacheco built a colonial settlement in Bacalar that he
(_________________ ) renamed ‘San Felipe de Bacalar.’