Pronouns

Another kind of Reading question deals with pronouns. You will see a sentence in boldface with a highlighted pronoun, and you will be asked to identify the noun that the highlighted pronoun refers to. Look at the example: However, George surprised everyone when he played a popular song, which he had taught himself by following the keys on a neighbor’s player piano, and his parents decided that George should receive lessons. He studied piano with a famous music teacher at the time, Charles Hambitzer. He was so im- pressed with Gershwin’s talent that he gave him lessons for free. Look at the highlighted word. Click on the word or phrase in the bold text that the word refers to. (A) Piano (B) Charles Hambitzer (C) The Time (D) Gershwin The correct answer is (B). The pronoun “he” refers to a person, not to a thing (“piano” and “time” are things). “He” also does not refer to Gershwin, because Gershwin did not give lessons to himself, so “he” must refer to Charles Hambitzer.