Primary 4 · English · Pronouns & Reference
Pronouns & Reference questions for Primary 4 English
10 questions to work through online. Answer and you get the working straight away, then a score at the end. No sign-up, and you can retake it as often as you like.
- What a pronoun refers to
- What a clause refers to
- The former and the latter
- Subject and object pronouns
- Matching a pronoun to its noun
- Relative pronouns
- Reflexive pronouns
- Avoiding an unclear pronoun
Answers and explanations for all 10 questions
Every answer with the reasoning behind it. Worth reading after you have tried the set — or on its own, if you are a parent marking it.
What does "it" refer to? The committee moved the concert to the hall because the field had flooded twice that month, and by Friday it was under water again.
Answer: the field
The field is the thing that had flooded twice, and by Friday it was under water again. The hall is nearer in the sentence, which is the trap.
What does "this" refer to? Several pupils had begun leaving their bicycles against the railing rather than in the racks. This was why the gate could no longer be opened fully.
Answer: pupils leaving their bicycles against the railing
This points back to the whole first sentence — the habit that had started, not any one noun in it.
What does "they" refer to? The volunteers handed the donated books to the librarians, who sorted them into three piles, and by six o'clock they had filled the whole trolley.
Answer: the books
A trolley is filled by the things put on it, and the things being handled throughout are the books.
What does "the latter" refer to? The club offers badminton and archery on Tuesdays, though the latter is only for pupils in P5 and above.
Answer: archery
The latter means the second of two things mentioned, and archery is the second.
Choose the correct pronouns: The prize was shared between Mei Xin and ______ , which surprised ______ both.
Answer: me ... us
Between takes the object form — between Mei Xin and me — and the ones being surprised are us.
Choose the correct word: Neither of the boys remembered to bring ______ permission slip.
Answer: his
Neither is singular however many boys there are, and the boys take his.
What does "them" refer to? The shopkeeper kept the ripe mangoes in a basket beside the till so that customers in a hurry could reach them without going down the aisle.
Answer: the ripe mangoes
The mangoes are what customers reach for, so them stands for the ripe mangoes.
Choose the correct word: The drone ______ battery had run flat drifted into the canal.
Answer: whose
Whose shows belonging, and it works for things as well as people: the drone whose battery had run flat.
Choose the correct word: My father and I repainted the gate ______ over the holidays.
Answer: ourselves
My father and I is us, so the reflexive form is ourselves.
Which sentence makes it clear whose bag was found?
Answer: Priya told Nur that the missing bag was Nur's.
When a pronoun could point at either of two people, naming the person again is what makes the sentence clear.