Vague Pronoun References: What Does 'This' Actually Mean?

A vague pronoun reference happens when a pronoun — usually "this," "that," "it," or "which" — doesn't clearly point back to one specific noun. The writer knows exactly what they mean; the reader has to guess, and sometimes guesses wrong.

✗ Sales dropped and the team missed its targets, which frustrated leadership. (which — the drop? the missed targets? both?)
✓ Sales dropped and the team missed its targets, and the missed targets frustrated leadership.

The most common version: starting a sentence with "This"

✗ The server crashed twice last week, and the backup system also failed once. This needs to be fixed before the launch. (this — the crashes? the backup failure? both, generally?)
✓ The server crashed twice last week, and the backup system also failed once. Both issues need to be fixed before the launch.

When a paragraph describes more than one thing and the next sentence opens with "This," the reader has to decide for themselves which prior idea "this" is pointing at. Often there's an obvious intended reading, but not always — and even when there is, making the reader work for it slows them down.

How to fix it

The reliable fix is to follow the pronoun with the specific noun it refers to, rather than leaving it to stand alone:

✗ This is a problem.
✓ This delay is a problem.

Adding the noun costs one or two words and removes all ambiguity about what "this" means.

"It" with no clear antecedent

✗ In the report, it says the project is behind schedule. (what is "it"? the report itself, presumably — but "it says" has no noun "it" is standing in for)
✓ The report says the project is behind schedule.

When it's genuinely fine

If a paragraph is clearly about one single idea and nothing else, a pronoun referring back to "the thing I've been talking about" is unambiguous and completely natural — this only becomes a problem when there are multiple candidate nouns the pronoun could plausibly be pointing to.

The quick check

When you use "this," "that," "it," or "which" to refer back to something earlier, ask: could a reader point to more than one thing in the previous sentence that this might mean? If yes, add the specific noun.