Pronouns: Finding a Pronoun's Antecedent

Application 3

Instructions The paragraph from Application 1 is reprinted below. Find the pronoun that at the beginning of the sixth sentence. Its antecedent is a whole embedded idea: because ten percent favored a seven-hour day. The other pronouns in the paragraph have simpler antecedents, and a few explain themselves without any antecedent. In the space provided after each pronoun, write the pronoun's antecedent or write "none" if the pronoun doesn't need an antecedent. Dave brought me a chart clipped from his evening newspaper. It showed the responses of American executives to the question, "How many hours should there be in an average workday?" The majority of the executives interviewed favored the status quo: 57 percent of them voted for the eight-hour day. However, Dave was excited because 10 percent favored a seven-hour day. That was enough to get him started on a fantasy about how fifty years from now everyone will consider an eight-hour day a violation of human rights. But when I asked him to add up the numbers further down the chart, he stopped gloating. A significant portion of the executives -- 11 percent of them , in fact -- thought everyone should buckle down to nine- and ten-hour workdays. Dave and I decided not to pay attention to the vote of anyone who could show such ignorance of human nature, and we used the clipping to light our barbecue.

/* */ CONTENTS MAIN PAGE 13.1 Pretest 13.2 Your Writing 13.3 Recognizing Pronouns 13.4 Finding a Pronoun's Antecedent 13.5 Subject and Object Forms of Pronouns 13.6 Making Pronouns and Antecedents Agree 13.7 Review & Practice Part 1 13.7 Review & Practice Part 2 13.8 Fun With Grammar 13.9 Return to Your Writing 13.10 Mastery Test