PROBLEM CAUSING PRONOUNS

When I was at the semester 6, my lecturer mr Fadly asked his students to make a short paper about some errors caused by a specific part of English grammar for MID semester test. So I made a paper about Pronoun since it is an easy one _hehe. Surprisingly, I got A at the end of semester hahaha I still don’t believe that I had A. I just took some problems around me and put them into my paper, but mr Fadly appreciated my paper. Thanks to you sir!!!You saved my mark at that semester…. :-) If you think it is a good or bad paper, give me some comments!!!

PROBLEM CAUSING PRONOUNS

A. THE NATURE OF PRONOUN

In grammar class we know the term Noun. A noun is any words that are names of things or people or places, e.g. book, pen, Pasha, Dhani Ahmad, hand phone, class, Indonesia, university, Riau, etc. But sometimes in speaking or writing we use another word to replace the noun for instance; Fadi is absent, because he is ill. The word ‘he’ is used to replace ‘Fadi’. So Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.

Pronouns are usually short words. Their function is to avoid the repetition of nouns, for example:

· PERSIK’s striker, Saktiawan Sinaga is a good football player. He made 2 goals yesterday when his team won a match with PERSIPURA.

("He" is a pronoun. In this example, it replaces the noun "Saktiawan Sinaga". Pronouns
are used for brevity. Imagine how wearisome a long prose would be if the writer used the full noun (in this case "Saktiawan Sinaga") every time.)

v The different types of pronoun

There are many different kinds of pronouns. In general, these do not cause difficulties for native English speakers.

1. Demonstrative Pronouns

These pronouns are used to demonstrate (or indicate). "This", "that", "these" and "those" are all demonstrative pronouns.

This is the one I left in the car.

(In this example, the speaker could be indicating to a mobile phone; in which
case, the pronoun "this" replaces the words "mobile phone".)

2. Indefinite Pronouns

Unlike demonstrative pronouns, which point out specific items, indefinite pronouns are used for non-specific things. This is the largest group of pronouns. "All", "some", "any", "several", "anyone", "nobody", "each", "both", "few", "either", "none", "one" and "no one" are the most common.

Somebody must go to the photocopy centre for copying this material.

(somebody - not a specific person)

3. Interrogative Pronouns

These pronouns are used in questions. Although they are classified as pronouns, it is not easy to see how they replace nouns. "Who", "which", "what", "where" and "how" are all interrogative pronouns.

Who told you to do that?

4. Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used to show possession. As they are used as adjectives, they are also known as "possessive adjectives". "My", "your", "his", "her", "its", "our" and "their" are all possessive pronouns.

Have you seen his book?

(In this example, the pronoun "her" replaces a word like "Saiful’s".)

5. Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns are used to add more information to a sentence. "Which", "that", "who" (including "whom" and "whose") and "where" are all relative pronouns.

Dr Adam Pangabean, who lectured at Gajah Mada for more than 12 years, should have known the difference.

(In this example, the relative pronoun "who" introduces the clause "who studied
at Gajah Mada for 12 years" and refers back to "Dr Adams Pangabean".)

6. Absolute Possessive Pronouns

These pronouns also show possession. Unlike possessive pronouns (see above), which are adjectives to nouns, these pronouns sit by themselves. "Mine", "yours", "his", "hers", "ours" and "theirs" are all absolute possessive pronouns.

The tickets are as good as ours.

Shall we take yours or theirs?

7. Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns are used for actions or feelings that are reciprocated. The two most common reciprocal pronouns are "each other" and "one another".

They like one another.

They talk to each other like they're babies.

8. Reflexive Pronouns

A reflexive pronoun ends "...self" or "...selves" and refers to another noun or pronoun in the sentence. The reflexive pronouns are: myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves.

M. Khaidir bakes all the bread himself.

(In this example, the reflexive pronoun "himself" refers back to the noun "M. Khaidir ".)

B. COMMON ERRORS CAUSING PRONOUNS

1. Pronoun error in term of Interpretive error

Father : So Ucok, and the dog, and I went out jogging. He got tired and was a pain to deal with for the rest of the afternoon.

Mother : Who?

Father : Who? What?

Mother : Who got tired and was cranky?

Father : You know who I mean.

Mother : No, I don’t. Was it Larry or the dog?

Father : You weren’t listening. Were you?

[technically he in the original sentence would refer to the dog]

http://www.successful-blog.com/1/how-evil-pronouns-cause-arguments/

From the conversation, the mother still does not understand that ‘he’ replaces to the dog. Actually we can not blame the mother for her misunderstanding because the pronoun ‘he’ can refer to either the dog or Ucok. (The mother can not interpret what ‘he’ refer to)

2. Pronoun error in term of Syntactic and lexical error

In everyday situation we often find the error or mistake related to Pronoun (the agreement between Pronouns and the words they refer to). For example:

Incorrect: The student who cares about their homework will start it early in the week.

Correct:

Students who care about their homework will start it early in the week.

The student who cares about his or her homework will start it early in the week.

Second example:

Incorrect: Ask the teacher if they can come to the meeting this afternoon.

Correct:

Ask teachers if they can come to the meeting this afternoon.

Ask the teacher if he can come to the meeting this afternoon.

Another example:

Incorrect : The student who does their homework faithfully will get the good grades they deserve.

Grammatically correct but stylistically awkward : The student who does his or her homework faithfully will get the good grades he or she deserves.

Better : Students who do their homework faithfully will get the good grades they deserve.

3. Pronoun error in term of Pragmatic error

Husband :We need to write a letter to the phone company.

Wife :We?

Husband :Yeah. Us.

Wife :You really mean me. Don’t you?

Husband :Well, you are the writer in the house. Are you refusing?

Wife : No, I just wanted to be clear who’s really doing the work. . . .

http://www.successful-blog.com/1/how-evil-pronouns-cause-arguments/

In that conversation, there is a problem with the pronoun ‘we’. In my mind, we can use ‘we statement’ in office area, for instance the director ask the schedule for his secretary; “Is there any meeting for us today?” (even though he know that only he joins the meeting). But in the family area , wife feels equal with the husband. So she needs to know who doing the job (writing the letter) exactly. (My point of view is based on the conversation).

There are some exceptions for individual or some culture. For example in Tandikat (Rokan Hulu); they use the pronoun ‘kami’ –means we- for referring ‘saya’ –means I-.