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Grammatical terminology
What is a "pronoun"?
Pronouns are words that can replace a noun.
You use pronouns like "it", "which", "this", "that", and "we" to make your sentences less top-heavy and less repetitive.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS (I, we, you, he, she, they)
In general, academic writing tends to avoid personal pronouns and, instead, prefers repeating nouns.
The pronouns "I" and "you" are especially avoided,
though "we" can be used in some fields when offering explanations or justifications for
particular methodological choices (See Describing aims and Explaining procedures).
Unlike the above three personal pronouns, "he", "she", and "they"
can be freely used to replace the names of particular authors when
citing other researchers' work). However, even here there is a tendency in some fields to use the author's last name
when referring later to the same author.
| Referring to other authors work: |
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Richards and coworkers (1999) found high levels of dissatisfaction among users of instruction manuals,
though they were unable to identify the exact linguistic reasons for this finding.
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Williams (2005) suggested that coyotes may have reduced the carrying capacity of bobcats in eastern Maine by diminishing the availability of prey.
However, she neglected to take into account the affects of humans living in the area.
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Coyotes may affect the carrying capacity of bobcats by diminishing the availability of prey (Williams, 2005).
However, this view has been questioned, since Williams neglected to take into account the affects of humans living in the area.
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THIRD-PERSON PRONOUNS (it, they)
Use "it" and "they" to refer to only to those nouns which have been in topical or subject position in the previous sentence.
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Example 1:
This section of the review describes current limits on the biological aspects of nanotechnology. It outlines selected broad areas of research opportunity, and it sets forth challenges for the intermediate and long-term future.
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This section of the review
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describes
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current limits on the biological aspects of nanotechnology.
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It
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outlines selected broad areas of research opportunity, and
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it
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presents challenges for the intermediate and long-term future.
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Example 2:
The benefits of process control are many. They include achieving reduced variability and higher quality,
safety enhancement, reduction of process upsets, and in many cases, environmental improvements due to achieving mass
balance in processes with material in/product out.
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"BALD" DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS (this, these and that, those)
The demonstrative pronouns are "this," "that," "these," and "those."
"This" and "that"
are used to refer to singular and "these" and "those" to plural nouns and noun phrases.
Demonstrative pronouns differ in two ways from the third-person pronouns "it" and "they":
- Demonstrative pronouns can refer to and summarize the whole of a preceding sentence (e.g., "this" in the example below).
- Demonstrative pronouns can also refer to information which is not yet topical, or has been mentioned many sentences earlier, so that it has "fallen" out of focus.
Note how in the example below, "these" refers to information that has just been introduced (after the verb) as "new" information in the previous sentence.
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Example:
In the 19th century, Poul la Cour discovered that fast rotating wind turbines with fewer rotor blades generate electricity more efficiently than slow moving wind turbines with many rotor blades.
This led to a number of wind turbine advances during the 20th century.
These included the introduction of AC generators, electromechanical yawing to ensure that the rotor always faces directly into the wind, and stall controls to keep the rotor from turning too fast in very strong winds.
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Poul la Cour discovered that
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fast rotating wind turbines...generate electricity...
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This
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led to
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a number of wind turbine advances...
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These
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included the introduction of AC generators...
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THIS / THESE + repetition of 'given' term
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Example:
The installed capital cost of a wind farm includes planning, equipment purchase and construction of the facilities.
This cost, typically measured in $/kW, has decreased from more than $2,500/kW in the early 1980’s to less than $1,000/kW for wind farms in the U.S.
This decrease is due primarily to improvements in wind turbine technology, but also to the general increase in wind farm sizes.
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THIS / THESE + superordinate term
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Example:
With the Kyoto Protocol, commitments were made not to actions but to results that were to be measured after a decade or more.
This approach has several disadvantages.
An obvious one is that it is difficult determine, until close to the target date, which nations are on course to meet their goals.
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