Pronouns are the parts of speech that take the place of a noun. In the sentences, Quentin teaches a writing course. She teaches a writing course. I teach a writing course. Or, I teach it. She, I, and it are all pronouns. Common pronouns include he, she, they, them, I, me, you, who, whose, and even the words each, few, or many. I've uploaded a list of pronouns for you to review, if you need it. In this video, we'll have a short conversation about pronouns. Pronouns are easy to use. The real problem I see doesn't come from a lack of knowledge about the grammar, but rather, inattention to detail. Here's the important point to keep in mind about pronouns. They refer to the closest preceding noun in the sentence, to the closest noun that comes before the pronoun. In the case of the sentence I just said, here's an important point to keep in mind about pronouns, they refer to the closest preceding noun. They refers to pronouns. Another example is, the design that won? It was Dave's. The pronoun it refers to the closest noun that appears before it. In this case, that's design. Problems of clarity arise when what I think of as the anchoring noun, otherwise known as the antecedent, isn't clear. When you don't know what the pronoun refers to, problems with clarity really arise, and we know that's bad. Take this example, for instance. After Quentin pitched the campaigns to the clients, she launched them. Did I launch the campaigns or the clients? According to this, I launched the clients, not good for business [LAUGH]. There are also cases of hidden antecedents when a writer uses a pronoun without an anchoring noun. William's gas tank was almost empty, but he was tired of riding it. The it actually refers to the gas tank the way this is written by the rules of grammar. Obviously William hadn't been riding a gas tank, he'd been riding his motorcycle. This isn't clear because motorcycle isn't in the sentence. The pronoun has no antecedent. Or take this sentence, Dave called Quentin all day, but she didn't answer it. It doesn't refer to anything in this sentence. It has no anchoring noun. The most common mistake I see is when the pronoun gets too far away from the antecedent. It's been too long since the noun was used, and so meaning becomes unclear. Let's take this example. Steve went for a run yesterday and saw Harry as he leapt over the gate. He was running very fast, and passed Fred. Then he went to breakfast. Who leapt over the gate? Was it Steve, or was it Harry? Who was running very fast, Steve or Harry? Who went to breakfast, Steve, Harry, or Fred? If we follow the rule that pronouns refer to the closest preceding noun, then all Steve did was go for a run. Harry leapt over the gate, and Harry was running very fast. And Fred went to breakfast. This example demonstrates how important it is to pay attention to where the noun is that you're referring to with your pronoun. Another rule I like to follow is that you should never use a pronoun in a topic sentence for a paragraph. If you're starting a new paragraph, you should treat it as new, as if there's no antecedent. This is a simple trick that will make your topic sentences more powerful and will really improve your writing. The next quiz will give you a chance to practice pronoun placement, and then we'll move on to apostrophes.