How to Teach Pronoun Agreement
Pronoun agreement can be one of the hardest and most confusing aspects of the English language. When pronouns and antecedents fall out of agreement, the sentence becomes muddled and confusing. Teaching pronoun agreement is extremely vital to any basic English course. Teaching the subject, however, is not always so basic. Following a systematic approach to pronoun agreement, though, can improve students' understanding and retention of the material.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
How to Teach Pronoun Agreement
-
1
Introduce the idea of pronouns--what they are and how they are used. Students should first have a full understanding of what a noun is. Then, you may instruct them on how to use a pronoun in place of noun, and how this is useful in the English language. Explain that using nouns repeatedly can become annoying, tiresome and unnecessarily increase the length of what you are saying or writing. Also, explain the difference between person pronouns--those that refer to people, and object pronouns--those that refer to objects.
-
2
Clarify gender issues that exist with pronouns. It is especially important to make this clear for English language learners. Pronouns may or may not be gender specific, and you need to impress upon your students the importance of ensuring that pronouns and nouns agree in respect to gender.
-
-
3
Explicate the fact that there are single and plural pronouns, and when to use them. This is the appropriate time to introduce the concept of combining nouns in order to make a plural pronoun. For instance, when saying "Bob and Mary went to the park," we would use the pronoun, "they" to represent Bob and Mary.
-
4
Clarify pronoun agreement with person, as in first, second and third person. Students should be aware that it is confusing to switch between first, second and third person, and that personal perspective also applies to pronouns.
-
5
Explain issues with clarity and vagueness that pertain to pronoun usage. For instance, when writing a sentence that refers to multiple nouns, it is important to be clear to which noun you are referring with your pronoun.
-
6
Assign worksheets with exercises. After you have ensured that students clearly understand all aspects of pronoun usage and agreement, allow them to utilize this knowledge through exercises. You may assign this as homework or an in-class assignment. If in class, make sure that students ask questions about the exercises if they are confused about what they are to do. There should be enough exercises to cover all pronoun issues that you have addressed. If you choose to do multiple worksheets, refer back to the first worksheet before making a new one. Include extra exercises focusing on problem areas that students had on the former worksheet.
-
7
Go over work with the students. It is important to review the work that has been done to ensure that there are no areas in which students might be weak. This is especially important with pronoun agreement as there are many different ways in which pronouns can be used incorrectly.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Always explain instructions slowly and clearly to ensure students understand.
Ask students questions about the lesson throughout the lesson to check their level of understanding.
Pay special attention that English language learners clearly understand pronouns rules, as these rules may be very different from their native language.
References
- Photo Credit Pixland/Pixland/Getty Images
