Question

Which sentences correct the vague pronoun problem in the sentence that follows? Check all that apply. The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until he tripped and fell.
The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until they tripped and fell.
The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until the officer tripped and fell.
The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until the criminal tripped and fell.
The criminal chased the police officer through the streets until he tripped and fell.
The police officer and the criminal chased them through the streets until they tripped and fell.

Answer 1

Answer:

The sentences that correct the vague pronoun problem are:

The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until the officer tripped and fell.

The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until the criminal tripped and fell.

Explanation:

In the original sentence, "The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until he tripped and fell", we have the following information:

- There was a police officer;

- There was a criminal;

- The officer chased the criminal;

- One of them tripped and fell.

Because the speaker of the sentence used the pronoun "he" when there are two possible  third-person singular nouns for it to be substituting - officer and criminal -, "he" ends up being vague. We do not know who it refers to.

Thus, the best way to correct this problem is by choosing one of the nouns to be the one who tripped and fell, and using it instead of the pronoun "he".

• The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until the officer tripped and fell.

• The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until the criminal tripped and fell.

Answer 2

The sentence has a vague pronoun problem because it is unclear if the police officer or the criminal tripped and fell. In order to correct this, the sentence needs to be more specific. We can say any of the following sentences:

The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until the officer tripped and fell.

• It is clear that the officer fell.

The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until the criminal tripped and fell.

• It is clear the criminal fell.

This sentence wouldn't necessarily work with the original sentence since we can infer that only one of them fell because the writer used he. However, if both of them fell, it would be correct as well.

The police officer chased the criminal through the streets until they tripped and fell.