E14: FTCE | General Knowledge | English | Pronouns

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Welcome to episode 14 of FTCE seminar, the Florida Teacher Certification Exam podcast, where we talk about testing tips, study hacks, and how to pass the FTCE. I'm your host Mercedes Musto. In today's episode, I'll be talking about the FTCE general knowledge English subtests. This is part six of a multi-series review of what you

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need to know to pass the English section of the GK. Let's get started. Today, we're reviewing pronouns. What are pronouns and how to use them properly? Concept six, pronouns. Let's review. A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or a proper noun. There are many different types of pronouns

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and reasons to use them, but let's start with the following. Examples of subject pronouns are words like I, you, he, she, it, we, and they. There's also object pronouns, which are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them. You may also be familiar with possessive pronouns like mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. Next, we need to know that pronouns and the word they refer to called the antecedent,

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they need to be in agreement. They like gotta get along and the best way to learn this is to look at some incorrect sentences. Like this next example. The girl drove the truck to the store. They shopped at Walmart. Pop quiz. Which word is the pronoun? And which is the antecedent? Listen again carefully. The girl drove the truck to the store. They shopped at Walmart. If you guessed they as the pronoun, and girl as the antecedent, you're right. Well, I mean, kind of mostly because girl is a singular noun

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referring to the person and the word they is a plural pronoun referring to more than one person. So if you identified the pronoun and the antecedent correctly, but the pronoun antecedent arrangement are not in agreement. Oh my gosh, it sounds so complicated. So in addition to there being some different types of pronouns like subject pronouns, object pronouns, and

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possessive pronouns, we also have to kind of think about is it a singular pronoun or a plural pronoun. Singular meaning like one, you know, I and plural, meaning more than one, basically. So let's correct this sentence. The girl drove the truck to the store, they shopped at Walmart. That's our original sentence. When we correct it, let's, let's go with the girl drove the truck to the store, she shopped at Walmart. Or if you want to use the pronoun they, then we could say the girls, more than one,

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drove the truck to the store, they shopped at Walmart. Because in this case, girls refers to more than one as in plural, and so does the pronoun they. But wait, there's more. This can get even trickier when we talk about collective nouns like a word like team, audience, town, or organization. The rule is to treat a collective noun as a singular noun.

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I mean unless the sentence is clearly indicating that it's all plural. Well, like in this example from the FTCE English practice test. Listen carefully. The town lost their welcome sign. Now there's much more to the sentence, but let's stop here and identify the pronoun. Listen again. The town lost their welcome sign.

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Okay, easy. I hear the pronoun there, but what about the antecedent? The town lost their welcome sign. It appears as though there is referring back to the town. Okay, now the tricky part is that town and their, T-H-E-I-R, are not in agreement. Why?

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Because words like audience, town, and crowd are collective nouns, and they need to be treated as a singular noun, and the pronoun there is a plural pronoun referring to more than one, right? Therefore, a correct agreement would sound more like this. The town lost its welcome sign because its is a singular pronoun. Okay, okay, hold your horses.

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I know this may sound complicated, but generally speaking, a singular noun goes with a singular pronoun, and a plural noun goes with a plural pronoun. Now, there are exceptions to every rule, but when you're reading the questions on the test, ask yourself these three questions. Number one, what is the pronoun here? Number two, which word is the antecedent that the pronoun is referring to?

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And lastly, are these two words, the pronoun and the antecedent in agreement? Let's review. Pronouns are words that replace a noun and nouns are a person, place or thing. When using a pronoun, there must be first an identifiable antecedent that the pronoun is referring back to.

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Like in this example, teachers are inspirational role models. They inspire students. Here's where you use those three questions. Which word is the pronoun? Which word is the antecedent that the pronouns refer into? And are the two words, the pronoun and the antecedent, then you nailed it! Lastly, teachers is plural and they is a plural pronoun. Therefore, yes, there is a pronoun-antecedent agreement going on here. For more practice with pronouns and antecedent agreements, visit ftceseminar.com to study the English portion of the test. The important thing is to start studying

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and start studying today so you can pass the Florida Teacher Certification Exam. Well, what are you waiting for? Check us out on YouTube at FTCE Seminar and start studying today. This is your host, Mercedes Musto. Join me again for FTCE Seminar of Florida Teacher Certification Exam podcast

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so you can pass the FTCE. I'd like to thank Kate and Samantha and the Pickens Multimedia Studio at the University of West Florida for making this podcast possible.

Transcribed with Cockatoo