Language Standards You Might Be Missing SERIES: Vague Pronouns

This is the second blog post in our SERIES: The Language Standards You Might Be Missing. This week’s focus is Vague Pronouns.

In the middle school classroom, one of the most subtle yet impactful language standards is pronoun clarity. 

This skill shows up a lot in both our students writing and speaking. Sometimes I notice vague pronouns just as students try to tell me what they did over the weekend.

When students use vague pronouns, their intended meaning is obscured and hard to decipher.

Let’s dive into what vague pronouns are, why they matter, and how you can help your students master this essential skill. 

What Are Vague Pronouns?

Pronouns are words like “he,” “she,” “it,” “they,” and “this” that replace nouns to avoid repetition. However, when a pronoun is unclear or the noun it’s replacing is ambiguous, it becomes a vague pronoun, and the sentence loses its clarity.

For example:

• Vague: He went to the store because he needed food.
• Clear: John went to the store because he needed food.

This example is pretty simple. Without John’s name, we don’t know who “he” is.

Why Vague Pronouns Matter

Teaching students to avoid vague pronouns helps them write more clearly and effectively. Learning about vague pronouns and pointing them out encourages students to carefully consider the noun they’re referring to, which improves your student’s overall communication skills.

The 6th and 7th grade standards emphasize this skill because it plays a big role in making both writing and speaking more coherent and professional. Whether your students are writing essays, stories, or simply answering questions, being specific with pronouns is key to ensuring everyone’s ideas are understood.

How to Teach Vague Pronouns

Here are a few simple ways to teach students how to avoid vague pronouns:

1. Use Specific Nouns
   Remind students to be explicit with their nouns, especially if there’s any potential for confusion. Encourage them to replace vague pronouns with specific names or terms. When you’re explicitly teaching this skill, ask students to go back through their writing and underline or highlight all of their pronouns. Then work through the writing again, and make sure that all of the pronouns are referring back to a specific noun.
2. Read Aloud for Clarity
   Have students read their sentences aloud to check if the pronouns are clear. If they can’t immediately tell who or what the pronoun refers to, it’s time to rephrase. You can also have students read their sentences outloud to a partner, so students can practice hearing examples.
3. Practice with Sentence Rewriting
   Provide students with sentences that contain vague pronouns and have them rewrite the sentences for clarity. This will give them practice in recognizing and fixing vague pronouns. We’ve given you a few examples you can use below!

Examples for Students

• Vague: The dog chased the ball, but it was too fast for him.
• Clear: The dog chased the ball, but the ball was too fast for him.
• Vague: Sarah and Jane went shopping. She bought a new dress.
• Clear: Sarah and Jane went shopping. Sarah bought a new dress.
• Vague: The teacher was upset because they didn’t turn in their homework.
• Clear: The teacher was upset because the students didn’t turn in their homework.

Tools and Resources to Help Instruction

In this blog post, we have written a thorough breakdown of how we teach the L.1 standard. We also go into detail about how we break the standard down into learning targets for each grade, resources we use, and ideas for projects and activities.

We also have units that individually teach the 6th grade L.1 standard, the 7th grade L.1 Standard, and the 8th grade L.1 standard. You can click on each of those in the images below! 

The great news is that we’ve created resources to support instruction on not only vague pronouns but other related standards as well! Our 6th Grade Language Standards Bundle and 7th Grade Language Standards Bundle include clear lessons, worksheets, and assessments to reinforce all of the skills that are a part of the L.1 standards for these grade levels.

You can find these resources and more by clicking below:

• 6th Grade Language Standards Bundle
• 7th Grade Language Standards Bundle
• 8th Grade Language Standards Bundle

By incorporating these resources into your lessons, you’ll help students gain confidence in writing more clearly—and avoid vague pronouns once and for all.