“Mara told Lena she had lost the ticket.” The sentence is smooth enough to pass a quick read, but who lost it? Unless the context resolves the reference, the reader has to supply an answer the writer may not intend.
Trace the reference literally
Take a paragraph with two or more people. Circle each pronoun and draw an arrow to its intended referent. Where you hesitate, a new reader may hesitate too.
Use names where needed: “Mara told Lena, ‘I lost the ticket.’” Or “Mara said that Lena had lost the ticket.” These invented revisions describe different events, which is why choosing the referent matters.
Check words beyond personal pronouns
“This”, “that” and “it” can also hide the thing being discussed. In an explanatory draft, replace an unclear “this caused the delay” with the specific action that caused it, if the evidence supports that claim.
You do not need to remove every pronoun. Repeating a full name in every sentence can make a passage cumbersome. Restore clarity at the point where the reference becomes uncertain.
Read from the reader’s position
You know the scene because you wrote it. Test the paragraph without relying on information still in your head.
For feedback, ask somebody to identify who did what rather than merely whether the prose sounds good. Our guide to useful writing feedback helps turn that question into a focused revision.