Working With Vague Pronouns Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: L.6.1.D

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

Writers that endeavor their work for complete clarity steer clear of vague pronouns because they can commonly confuse readers. The most common vague pronouns include: it, that, this, and which. When used in a sentence they can often lack a resulting antecedent. Making sure that you do not start a sentence with the word “it”, will help avoid doing this. This series of printable worksheets will help students identify and replace vague uses of pronouns.

Working With Vague Pronouns Worksheets To Print:

Vague Pronoun – Try to clear these up for your kids.

Vague Pronoun References – You will find that many of these are already perfect, but some need a touch up.

Circling Vague Pronouns – Which sentence is actually correct.

Ambiguous Pronouns – Which one fits and which one doesn't at all?

Go For Four – That last sentence needs a ton of work or does it?

Taking a Trip – Correct each sentence below to make it clearer and to remove any uncertainty regarding pronoun references.

Correcting Vagueness – Carrie's postcard contains some vague pronoun references. Read. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, rewrite Carrie's note to make it more clear.

Vague Pronouns – Underline the vague pronoun in each sentence below. Then circle the part of the sentence you think the pronoun is referring to.

Swing This Around – Mr. Williams was a good, kind man, as was the groom, named Willie.

An Owl of Help – Rewrite each sentence to clarify the vague pronouns. You may need to add or rearrange words.

Pianos and Red Lights – Rewrite each sentence to make it less vague. You may need to rearrange or add words to clarify the meaning.

Give Me Some Presents – Write the letter V next to the sentence that has the vague pronoun reference.

Where Are The References – Find the vague pronoun references. Then rewrite the passage to make it clearer.

Super Unclear – The sentences below contain vague pronoun references. Rewrite each sentence to make it clearer.

Scratch It Right! – Read each set of sentences. Circle the sentence that is correct.

What Are Vague Pronouns?


Pronouns are words or phrases that are used to substitute nouns in sentences. Pronouns are used for multiple reasons. They can help the reader in understanding the text in a much better way. They also help in avoiding repetitions of the same nouns over and over again. They can simply cause damage to the text by making it plain and boring.


Many different kinds of pronouns are used for different purposes. Some of them are reflexive, interrogative, demonstrative, personal, indefinite, possessive, and relative pronouns. These types of pronouns are widely used in written language.


One such type of pronouns is the vague pronouns. The vague pronoun does not specify as the working type of a pronoun. Rather, it causes confusion and errors in a written text. Vague pronouns should be avoided. This is because they can make the readers misinterpret the context of the text. Writers who prioritize clarity should keep themselves away from the use of vague pronouns.


A vague pronoun is a pronoun that does not clearly represents the noun that it is substituting. Usually, the vague pronoun comes in the shape of words such as it, which, that, this, etc that leaves the reader wondering which noun is being talked about. There are three main reasons as to why vague pronouns are formed in the text.


- When there are so many antecedents in the previous text.
- When there are hidden antecedents in the previous text.
- When there are no antecedents at all in the previous text.


There are two ways through which you can correct a vague pronoun. The first way is to replace the vague pronoun with the noun. This way you will provide more clarity to the subject. It will become easier to fathom the context. Another way is to rephrase the entire sentence. You can do this by placing the vague pronoun at a place where it will be obvious which noun is being talked about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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