First-Year English FAQs
Vague pronoun reference occurs when you use a pronoun (I, she, its, they, that) to refer to a noun but the reference back to the original noun is vague or unclear.
Example: That should be solved.
Solution: The problem of unsafe nuclear testing should be solved.
If you used the pronoun to avoid redundancy with a word but the replacement pronoun is vague or unclear, try renaming the subject.
Example: The problem of unsafe nuclear testing should be solved.
The underlined words in the above example is the subject of this sentence. You might be tempted to replace this group of words with the word "this." If you replaced this group of words with the word "this," you would create a vague pronoun in your paper. Instead you should use other, more specific words to rename the subject.
Example: This could endanger large numbers of people.
Solution: This type of weapon's testing could endanger large numbers of people.
In the solution sentence notice that in addition to the word "this" there are also other clarifying words that link back to the previous sentence.
Vague pronoun reference is a frequent, common writing problem in student writing. This type of error is not acceptable in college level writing.