Filling Blanks with the Right Pronoun

In the previous chapter, "How to Read a Passage with Blanks," we learned that the golden rule of any cloze test is to read the entire paragraph first to understand the context. Once you have the big picture, it is time to zoom in on the individual blanks. Very often, the missing word you need to fill in is a pronoun.

Pronouns are the stunt doubles of the English language. They step in to take the place of a noun so that we do not have to repeat the same word over and over again. Instead of saying, "Ravi dropped Ravi's phone, and the phone broke," we say, "Ravi dropped his phone, and it broke."

While this sounds simple in everyday conversation, exam setters love to use pronouns to test your attention to detail. They will try to trick you by separating the pronoun from its noun with long, distracting sentences, or by using tricky nouns that sound plural but are actually singular.

To master pronoun blanks, you do not need to memorize a grammar textbook. You just need to learn how to play detective and trace every pronoun back to its source.

The Golden Rule: Find the Antecedent

Every pronoun exists to replace a specific noun. If you want to know which pronoun fits in a blank, you must first find the noun it is replacing. In grammar, this original noun has a special name.

If a blank requires a pronoun, your very first step is to ask: "Who or what is this blank talking about?"

Look at this example:

"The old library, which had stood in the town square for over a century, finally closed ______ doors."

To fill this blank, ask yourself: Whose doors closed? The town square's doors? No. The century's doors? No. The old library's doors. "The old library" is the antecedent. Since a library is a single, non-human thing, the correct pronoun is its.

If you do not identify the antecedent first, you are just guessing. Once you find the antecedent, you only need to check two things to pick the perfect pronoun:

1. 1Number: Is the antecedent singular (one) or plural (more than one)?
2. 2Job: What is the pronoun doing in the sentence? Is it doing an action, receiving an action, or showing ownership?

Let us break down the different types of pronouns you will face and the specific traps examiners set for each.

Personal Pronouns: The Subject vs. Object Trap

Personal pronouns refer to specific people or things (I, you, he, she, it, we, they). The most common mistake students make here is confusing subject pronouns with object pronouns.

To choose the right one, you need to know what job the pronoun is doing in the sentence.

• Subject Pronouns (I, he, she, we, they): These are the doers of the action. They perform the verb.
• Object Pronouns (me, him, her, us, them): These are the receivers of the action. They have the action done to them, or they come after a preposition (like to, for, with, between).

Let us look at a classic exam trap:

"The manager decided to split the bonus between Amit and ______." Options: A) I, B) me

Many students choose "I" because "Amit and I" sounds formal and polite. But this is incorrect. The word "between" is a preposition, and prepositions must always be followed by object pronouns. The bonus is being split between them; they are receiving it. Therefore, the correct answer is me.

Possessive Pronouns and the "It's" Trap

Possessive pronouns show ownership (my, your, his, her, its, our, their).

There is one specific possessive pronoun that catches thousands of students off guard every year: its.

• Its (no apostrophe) shows ownership. (e.g., "The dog wagged its tail.")
• It's (with an apostrophe) is a contraction of "it is" or "it has". (e.g., "It's raining outside.")

If you see a blank that requires a possessive pronoun for a thing or an animal, never choose the option with the apostrophe.

The Singular vs. Plural Trap (The "Company" Trap)

This is arguably the most frequently tested pronoun concept in competitive exams. Examiners love to use nouns that represent a group of people and see if you will mistakenly use a plural pronoun for them.

Look at this sentence:

"The company announced that ______ profits have doubled this year." Options: A) their, B) its

In our heads, we know a "company" is made up of hundreds of employees, managers, and directors. Because we picture a group of people, we are heavily tempted to choose "their."

Do not fall for this.

In English grammar, collective nouns—words that represent a group acting as a single unit—are treated as singular. A company is one single legal entity. Therefore, it must take a singular pronoun. The correct answer is its.

Examples of the rule in action:

• The government has announced its new budget. (Not their budget).
• The committee reached its decision. (Not their decision).
• The jury gave its verdict. (Not their verdict).

The only time a collective noun becomes plural is if the members of the group are fighting or acting individually (e.g., "The jury were divided in their opinions"), but this is rare in foundation-level cloze tests. Stick to the rule: Company = It.

Relative Pronouns: Who, Which, and That

Relative pronouns are used to connect a clause or phrase to a noun or pronoun. They "relate" back to something mentioned previously. The big three are who, which, and that.

Choosing between them depends entirely on the antecedent (the noun they are pointing back to).

1. Who vs. Which

This is the easiest rule to remember:

• Use who (and whom/whose) only for people.
• Use which only for things and animals.

Examples:

• The driver who caused the accident was arrested. (Driver = person -> who)
• The car which caused the accident was impounded. (Car = thing -> which)

2. Who vs. Whom

This is the heavyweight champion of grammar confusion. Both refer to people, but they do different jobs.

• Who is a subject pronoun (like he, she, they). It is doing the action.
• Whom is an object pronoun (like him, her, them). It is receiving the action or coming after a preposition.

How do you know which one to use in a blank? Use the He/Him substitution trick.

Let's test it:

"The man ______ I met yesterday is a doctor."

Did you meet he, or did you meet him? You met him. Therefore, the correct word is whom. ("The man whom I met...")

"The man ______ called me yesterday is a doctor."

Did he call you, or did him call you? He called you. Therefore, the correct word is who. ("The man who called me...")

3. Which vs. That

Both which and that can be used for things. The difference lies in whether the information following the pronoun is essential to the sentence or just extra bonus information.

• That is used for essential information. If you remove the "that" clause, the sentence loses its core meaning.

Example: "The phone that I bought yesterday is already broken." (If you just say "The phone is already broken," we don't know which phone you mean. The clause is essential).

• Which is used for non-essential, extra information. It is almost always preceded by a comma.

Example: "My new phone, which I bought yesterday, is already broken." (The core sentence "My new phone is already broken" makes perfect sense on its own. The "which" clause is just extra trivia).

Demonstrative Pronouns: This, That, These, Those

Demonstrative pronouns are "pointing" words. Imagine you are physically pointing your finger at something while speaking.

• This (singular) and These (plural) point to things that are near in space or time.
• That (singular) and Those (plural) point to things that are far away in space or time.

In a reading comprehension passage, you aren't dealing with physical distance. Instead, demonstrative pronouns are used to point back to an idea or a sentence that was just mentioned. They act as the glue holding a paragraph together.

Look at this mini-passage:

"The central bank decided to increase interest rates by two percent. ______ sudden move caused panic in the stock market."

What goes in the blank? The blank is pointing directly back to the action in the previous sentence (the increasing of interest rates). Because it is a single idea that was just mentioned (near in the text), we use the singular, near pronoun: This.

How to choose the right demonstrative pronoun:

• Check the noun immediately following it: If the blank is followed by a plural noun (e.g., "______ policies"), you must use These or Those. If it is followed by a singular noun (e.g., "______ decision"), you must use This or That.
• Check the time frame: If the passage is talking about the present or the immediate previous sentence, use This/These. If the passage is talking about the distant past (e.g., "In the 1990s, the internet was new. In ______ days..."), use That/Those.

Step-by-Step Method for Pronoun Blanks

When you encounter a blank in a passage and the options are all pronouns, do not just rely on what "sounds right." Follow this logical sequence:

Worked Examples

Let us apply everything we have learned to some realistic exam-style sentences.

Example 1:

"The board of directors held an emergency meeting yesterday, but ______ could not reach a consensus on the merger." Options: A) they, B) it, C) we, D) he

Step 1: Find the antecedent. Who could not reach a consensus? The board of directors. Step 2: Check the number. "The board of directors" is a collective noun acting as a single unit. Therefore, it is singular. Step 3: Check the job. The pronoun is doing the action (reaching a consensus), so it is a subject pronoun. Conclusion: We need a singular subject pronoun for a non-human entity. The correct answer is B) it. (If you chose "they", you fell for the collective noun trap!)

Example 2:

"The scholarship will be awarded to the student ______ achieves the highest marks in the final examination." Options: A) which, B) whom, C) who, D) whose

Step 1: Find the antecedent. The blank refers back to "the student". Step 2: People or things? A student is a person, so we immediately eliminate "which". Step 3: Who vs. Whom? Let's use the He/Him trick for the clause "______ achieves the highest marks". Does he achieve the highest marks, or does him achieve the highest marks? He achieves them. Therefore, we need the subject pronoun. Conclusion: The correct answer is C) who.

Example 3:

"During the 19th century, telegraph lines were laid across the ocean. ______ early communication networks revolutionized global trade." Options: A) This, B) That, C) These, D) Those

Step 1: Find the antecedent. The blank is pointing back to the "telegraph lines" mentioned in the previous sentence. Step 2: Check the noun following the blank. The blank is followed by "early communication networks", which is plural. This eliminates the singular options "This" and "That". Step 3: Check the time frame. The sentence explicitly mentions "During the 19th century," which is the distant past. Conclusion: We need a plural demonstrative pronoun for the past. The correct answer is D) Those.

Quick Revision

• Find the Antecedent First: Never guess a pronoun without finding the exact noun it replaces.
• Subject vs. Object: Use subject pronouns (I, he, she, they) for the doers of an action. Use object pronouns (me, him, her, them) for receivers and after prepositions (like between or to).
• The "Company" Trap: Collective nouns like company, government, committee, team are singular. Always use it or its, never they or their.
• Its vs. It's: Its shows ownership. It's means "it is".
• Who vs. Which: Use who for people, which for things and animals.
• Who vs. Whom (He/Him Trick): If "he" fits the sentence, use who. If "him" fits, use whom.
• Which vs. That: Use which after a comma for extra information. Use that for essential information without a comma.
• Demonstratives: This/These for near/present. That/Those for far/past. Match them to the singular or plural noun that follows them.