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This article is dedicated to learning some of the pronouns we often overlook. While most students don’t really take time to study them, they’re still sometimes tested on the GMAT.

There

Though “there” is technically an adverb, it functions a lot like a pronoun because, in its most common usage, it means “in that place.” The problem that often arises with “there” is that the sentence must always include the antecedent place that “there” refers to.

Incorrect: Californian avocados are generally considered the best because the soil found there is unusually rich in nutrients that support the growth of this particular crop.

Correct: Avocados in California are generally considered the best because the soil found there is unusually rich in nutrients that support the growth of this particular crop.

Though it is difficult to spot, the incorrect version of the sentence lacks an antecedent for there; while it is understood that the antecedent place is California, the word does not actually appear in the sentence (the adjective “Californian” cannot function as the antecedent).

Reflexive Pronouns

Pronouns like “itself and “themselves” are referred to as “reflexive pronouns” because they refer back to the subject. Remember that replacing “itself” with “it” can drastically change the meaning of a sentence.

Example (with it): After the bill was finally passed, the beleaguered committee attempted to void it. (It must refer to the bill, since that is the only other noun in the sentence.)

Example (with itself): After the bill was finally passed, the beleaguered committee attempted to void itself. (Here, we understand that the committee took no action against the bill, but rather itself.)

Incorrect: After facing so much hostility from the left, the committee attempted to void it. (This sentence suggests that the committee voided “the left,” which really makes no sense grammatically.)

Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns, like “one another” and “each other” suggest an interaction between different entities, and so they do not mean the same thing as themselves.

Incorrect: The pen pals wrote to themselves.

Correct: The pen pals wrote to each other.

Themselves, as a reflexive pronoun, suggests that each pen pal in the group or pair of “pen pals” wrote a letter to himself, which does not seem like the intended meaning of the sentence.