Pronouns

American Diploma › Digital SAT Reading and Writing — Complete Course

A pronoun (it, they, its, their, who, him …) stands in for a noun. On the Digital SAT, pronoun questions check three things: that the pronoun matches the noun it replaces, that it is in the right form (subject, object or possessive), and that the reader can tell which noun it means. The rules are few and fixed, so this is one of the easiest places on the test to gain points quickly.

What this question type tests

Pronoun questions belong to Standard English Conventions, which is about 26% of the scored Reading and Writing questions (about 11–15 questions). The official skill list for Form, Structure, and Sense includes pronoun–antecedent agreement and the confusing pairs its/it's, their/they're/there and your/you're. These questions usually come in the later part of each module, after Information and Ideas.

The stem is always: "Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?" You know it is a pronoun question when the four choices are pronouns or pronoun look-alikes, for example:

• its / it's / their / they're
• who / whom / which / whose
• it / they / this / the device
• I / me / myself / us

The key word is antecedent: the noun a pronoun refers back to. In "The museum reopened its doors", the antecedent of *its* is *museum*. Almost every pronoun question is solved by finding the antecedent first.

Rule 1: Pronoun–antecedent agreement (number)

A singular antecedent takes a singular pronoun; a plural antecedent takes a plural pronoun. The test makes this hard in two ways: it puts the antecedent far from the pronoun, and it uses nouns that feel plural but are grammatically singular.

Rule 2: Clear antecedents — no confusing pronouns

A pronoun is wrong if the reader cannot be sure which noun it means. This happens when two or more nouns of the same number come before the pronoun. On the test, the correct choice is often a specific noun instead of a pronoun.

How to decide: list every noun before the pronoun that has the same number. If there is only one, the pronoun is fine. If there are two or more, choose the choice that names the noun. Do not choose the noun version when the pronoun is already clear — the SAT does not reward extra words for no reason.

Rule 3: Subject, object and possessive forms (case)

• Two people trick: cover the other person. "Salma and (I / me) won" → "I won" → Salma and I won. "The coach thanked Salma and (I / me)" → "thanked me" → Salma and me.
• After a preposition (between, for, with, to, from, among, like) use the object form: between you and me, for him and her.
• Comparisons with than / as: finish the sentence in your head: "She runs faster than (he / him)" → "than he runs" → than he (or "than he does").
• Myself / himself (reflexive) only when the subject does the action to itself or for emphasis: "I taught myself." ✗ "Karim and myself presented." Words like *hisself* and *theirselves* do not exist.

Rule 4: Who, whom, which, that, whose

The he/him test: take the words after the blank and make a small sentence with he or him. If he fits, use who; if him fits, use whom. Note the m: him = whom.

Rule 5: Its/it's, their/there/they're, your/you're, whose/who's

Possessive pronouns never have an apostrophe. An apostrophe in a pronoun always means a contraction (two words joined). Test every apostrophe by opening it up.

Rule 6: Stay consistent — one / you / we

Once a passage chooses a pronoun for people in general, keep it. If the sentence begins with one, continue with one (or *one's*), not *you*. If it begins with you, continue with you. Do not switch between *we*, *you* and *one* inside the same sentence.

• ✓ If one wants to see the sunrise, one should start early.
• ✗ If one wants to see the sunrise, you should start early.
• ✓ If you want to see the sunrise, you should start early.

The 5-step method for test day

1. Read the choices. Pronouns or look-alikes? It is a pronoun question.
2. Find the antecedent. Go back in the sentence (or the sentence before) and ask "Who or what does this pronoun mean?"
3. Check number: singular antecedent → it/its/he/she; plural → they/their. Remember companies, teams and species are singular.
4. Check form: subject or object (he/him test, cover the other person)? possessive or contraction (open the apostrophe)?
5. Check clarity: if two nouns could be the antecedent, pick the choice that names the noun.

Worked examples

Worked example 1: a company is "it"

Passage: "The textile company began as a small workshop in El-Mahalla El-Kubra in the 1950s. Today, ______ products are sold in more than thirty countries, although most of its cotton is still grown in the Nile Delta."

Question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) their
• B) its
• C) it's
• D) they're

Answer: B) its. The antecedent is "The textile company" — one company, so it is singular. A possessive is needed ("the company's products"), so "its" is correct. The passage confirms it later: "its cotton".

• A) their — Plural. A company is one thing on the SAT, even though many people work for it.
• C) it's — "It's" = "it is": "it is products are sold" makes no sense.
• D) they're — "They're" = "they are", and it is plural.

Worked example 2: they're vs their vs there

Passage: "Honeybees share the location of food through a movement called the waggle dance. When forager bees return to the hive, ______ able to show both the direction and the distance of a flower patch through the angle and length of their dance."

Question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) its
• B) their
• C) they're
• D) there

Answer: C) they're. The clause needs a subject and a verb: "the forager bees are able to show". "They're" = "they are", and "they" agrees with the plural "forager bees".

• A) its — "Its" is possessive and singular; there would be no verb ("its able").
• B) their — "Their" is possessive; "their able" has no verb.
• D) there — "There able" has no subject or verb.

Worked example 3: unclear pronoun

Passage: "In the 1820s, Jean-François Champollion compared the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone with the hieroglyphic text above it. Since scholars could already read the Greek, ______ helped him identify the hieroglyphic signs for royal names such as Ptolemy."

Question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) it
• B) they
• C) this
• D) the Greek inscription

Answer: D) the Greek inscription. Three singular nouns come before the blank: the Rosetta Stone, the hieroglyphic text and the Greek. A pronoun would not make clear which one helped. Only the noun "the Greek inscription" removes the doubt.

• A) it — Unclear: "it" could mean the stone, the Greek text or the hieroglyphic text.
• B) they — Plural, and the only plural noun, "scholars", is not what helped him: the readable Greek text did.
• C) this — Vague: "this" does not name what it refers to.

Worked example 4: who vs whom

Passage: "The engineer ______ the city hired to design the new pedestrian bridge had already worked on several projects along the Nile Corniche. Her design, which uses lightweight steel cables, was chosen from more than forty proposals."

Question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) who
• B) whom
• C) which
• D) whose

Answer: B) whom. Make the small sentence: "the city hired ___" → "the city hired her" (object form). Object = "whom". The engineer receives the action of "hired"; "the city" is the subject.

• A) who — "Who" is the subject form; but the subject of "hired" is "the city", not the engineer.
• C) which — "Which" is for things, never for people.
• D) whose — "Whose" shows possession: "whose the city hired" makes no sense.

Practice

Twelve original test-style questions. Find the antecedent first, then check number, form and clarity. Explanations appear at the end.

All pages in this course

Start here

• The Digital SAT: Complete Overview
• Time Strategy and How to Attack Every Question

Craft and Structure

• Words in Context
• High-Value Vocabulary for SAT Reading and Writing
• Text Structure and Purpose
• Cross-Text Connections

Information and Ideas

• Central Ideas and Details
• Command of Evidence: Textual
• Command of Evidence: Quantitative
• Inferences

Standard English Conventions

• Sentence Boundaries
• Commas and Extra Information
• Colons, Dashes and Semicolons
• Subject–Verb Agreement
• Pronouns
• Verb Tense, Aspect and Finiteness
• Modifiers, Parallel Structure and Comparisons
• Plurals and Possessives

Expression of Ideas

• Transitions
• Rhetorical Synthesis (Student Notes)

Full practice tests

• Digital SAT Reading and Writing — Practice Test 1
• Digital SAT Reading and Writing — Practice Test 2
• Digital SAT Reading and Writing — Practice Test 3