Pronouns

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must be immediately clear to the reader.”</p><p id="556b">John Fowles, laconically adds, “The pronoun is one of the most terrifying masks man has invented.” Certainly, some truth to that, for it will bite if mismanaged.</p><p id="fb00">Karen Elizabeth Gordon also stresses the point, “A pronoun, too, will aptly reflect the number of its antecedent: ‘they’ does not refer to one person, no matter how many personalities she or he has, or how eager you are to skirt the gender frays.’”</p><p id="3132">While Susan B. Anthony quips, “It is urged that the use of the masculine pronouns he, his, and him in all the constitutions and laws, is proof that only men were meant to be included in their provisions. If you insist on this version of the letter of the law, we shall insist that you be consistent and accept the other horn of the dilemma, which would compel you to exempt women from taxation for the support of the government and from penalties for the violation of laws. There is no she or her or hers in the tax laws, and this is equally true of all the criminal laws.” Brilliant.</p><p id="4639">Bottom line, though: Pronouns are important, they mean something specific. Make that very clear in your writing.</p><p id="6c85">That’s the whole point, the whole lesson. It seems simple enough but beware of the havoc you can wreak in a reader’s mind by handling them (the pronouns — see?) sloppily.</p><p id="41fe">© Wolfstuff</p><div id="ef32" class="link-block"> <a href="http://wolfstuff.com"> <div> <div> <h2>Wolfstuff</h2>

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<div><h3>So, who am I? Really really. I could tell you that I was born in northern Sweden during a snow storm, and subsequently…</h3></div> <div><p>wolfstuff.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*NmCpRcceVd3FgXcc)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="fdfb">More Elements of Fiction here:</p><div id="b93a" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/elements-of-fiction-82c23d4b847a"> <div> <div> <h2>Elements of Fiction</h2> <div><h3>Table of Contents</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*l4SyLpw4iOlp85BIHxRSNw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="fcc0">More Wolf Stuff here:</p><div id="60d2" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/wolf-story-index-8120099ee54f"> <div> <div> <h2>Wolf Story Index</h2> <div><h3>A Table of Contents</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*V6BAaommh8BhJo8bFh6wgw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

An Element of Fiction

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Yes, grammar. Yes boring. Yet vital.

The key thing about pronouns (nouns that stand in for other nouns) is that their referents (who or what they stand in for) are crystally clear. So, when the writer says “they” or “he” or “she” there must never, ever be a shadow of a doubt as to what person(s) or thing(s) he or she (the writer — see?) is talking about.

The moment you, as a reader, stop to think or wonder who, precisely is being “he’d” here you are no longer “in the story;” no, you were yanked out of it and are now sitting in your room or on the bus or wherever, far away from the fictional dream you recently lived while trying to figure out who of the previously named three people that pronoun refers to.

Yanked out of the story by sloppy writing.

Pronoun confusion is a serious story-writing crime — I can’t put it more diplomatically.

True enough, few writers have pondered (or shared their ponderings) about pronouns, but Jacques Barzun, bless his heart has. To wit:

“It is the duty of pronouns to be not wild but tamed, that is, tied down; yet their natural tendency is toward the jungle.”

“Every pronoun,” he goes on to say, “necessarily has an antecedent. Which person or thing in the sentence that antecedent is must be immediately clear to the reader.”

John Fowles, laconically adds, “The pronoun is one of the most terrifying masks man has invented.” Certainly, some truth to that, for it will bite if mismanaged.

Karen Elizabeth Gordon also stresses the point, “A pronoun, too, will aptly reflect the number of its antecedent: ‘they’ does not refer to one person, no matter how many personalities she or he has, or how eager you are to skirt the gender frays.’”

While Susan B. Anthony quips, “It is urged that the use of the masculine pronouns he, his, and him in all the constitutions and laws, is proof that only men were meant to be included in their provisions. If you insist on this version of the letter of the law, we shall insist that you be consistent and accept the other horn of the dilemma, which would compel you to exempt women from taxation for the support of the government and from penalties for the violation of laws. There is no she or her or hers in the tax laws, and this is equally true of all the criminal laws.” Brilliant.

Bottom line, though: Pronouns are important, they mean something specific. Make that very clear in your writing.

That’s the whole point, the whole lesson. It seems simple enough but beware of the havoc you can wreak in a reader’s mind by handling them (the pronouns — see?) sloppily.

More Elements of Fiction here:

More Wolf Stuff here: