Reading: pronoun reference

1e

Pronouns are words such as he, she, they, them, and there. These words refer to nouns. lt
is important to understand exactly which words the pronouns refer to in a text. Usually this
information comes in the clause or sentence befare.

A Read this magazine article about people's memories of important events of the 1990s. Then write
the correct event above each description. There is one extra event which is not described.
Th e birth of Dolly th e Sheep in 1996
New Yea r's Eve in 1999

The 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta

The first Harry Potter book in 1998

.Key Events of the 1990s

1 --------------------------------------------

"1remember (1) them pretty well. 1was ten at the time, and 1was really interested in track and
field . My dad got tickets to go (2) there, and 1 was really excited about it for months. We saw the
men 's 100 meters, and Donovan Bailey won. (3) He seta new world record .The Canadian team did
pretty well , so 1 wasn 't disappointed! l'm glad 1 was there to support (4) them! " -Greg, Ontario
2

"1was only ten at the time, but 1remember seeing (5) it on TV. So me people were worried beca use
they thought it would cause problems with computers. We invited sorne friends over. (6) They were
really excited about it. My dad got sorne fireworks, and we lit them in the yard, but the rest of the
evening was boring, really. We watched the celebrations at the Eiffel Tower on TV. They looked
amazing. 1 wish l'd been (7) there instead!" -lsabelle, Lille

3 ----------------------------------------"lt was on TV when 1 was about twelve. Everyone seemed amazed at the news. 1 remember my teacher at school saying
how important (8) it was for scientists, but it just didn't interest me. 1thought (9) they should be doing more important
things to help people. But 1think 1 was too young to understand how important (10) she was for understanding humans, too."
-Adnan, Kuala Lumpar

B Circle the people 's main reactions to the events they describe.

1 Greg was happy 1 upset about going to the event.

2 Isabelle felt surprised

1 bored b y the event.

3 Adna n wasn ' t excited 1 upset about the event.

C Look at the pronouns in bold in Exercise A. Write the number of the pronoun which refers to each of
these things.

Text 1

Text2

Text3

a) the Cana dian team ______

e) some friends ______

h) scientists ______

b) Atlanta _____

f) a t the Eiffel tower _ __

i) Dolly the Sheep ____

e) the 1996 Olympic

Ga mes _____

g) the N ew Year 's Eve

celebra tion s in 1999 _____

j) the birth of Dolly the

Sheep _ __

d) Don ovan Bailey _ __