Sometimes, you'll come across sentences with multiple pronouns. In many cases, parallelism requires that the pronouns be identical.

Incorrect: Those who exercise in addition to maintaining a healthy diet are likely to be in better health than the people who maintain a healthy diet but don't exercise.

Correct: Those who exercise in addition to maintaining a healthy diet are likely to be in better health than those who maintain a healthy diet but don't exercise.

In the first sentence, the pronoun "those who," in the first part of the sentence, is matched with the phrase "the people who" in the second part of the sentence. Notice how much cleaner and easier to understand the second sentence is.

Look at the sentence below:

If one decides to break the law, they must be willing to take responsibility for any repercussions.

This sentence contains two pronouns. Do they match?

When using the word "one" as a pronoun referring to an unspecified person, the only acceptable match is "one": the first sentence inserts "they" instead, which is incorrect. The same rule applies for the pronoun "you" when it's used to refer to an unspecified person. The GMAT does not prefer one to the other, but "one" and "you" cannot be used interchangeably in the same sentence:

Incorrect: If one decides to break the law, you must be willing to take responsibility for any repercussions.

Correct: If one decides to break the law, one must be willing to take responsibility for any repercussions.

Correct: If you decide to break the law, you must be willing to take responsibility for any repercussions.

Both latter versions are correct.

Be consistent: use whichever pronoun you choose all the way through.

	Final tips on recognizing a parallelism Look for: Lists Clauses or phrases separated by commas Comparisons using multiple pronouns

Lists of Adjectives or Adverbs

Sample Questions