Question

When a pronoun does not agree in number or person with an antecedent that appears earlier in the sentence, what kind of error occurs?
a pronoun case error
a pronoun shift error
a reciprocal pronoun error
a vague pronoun error

Answer 1

Answer:

The kind of error that occurs is:

B. a pronoun shift error.

Explanation:

Take a look at the following sentence:

"One could have done better if we had studied harder."

See how the sentence begins by using "one" and then suddenly shifts to "we"? This is an example of a pronoun shift error. The pronoun "we" does not agree with "one".

Let's analyze another example:

"Someone is knocking; and they seem to be in a hurry."

Although that is a common structure in colloquial speech, it is incorrect. "Someone" is a third-person singular word, so the pronouns that refer to it should be "he" or "she". "They" is a third-person plural pronoun. Therefore, this example too shows a pronoun shift error.