Pronouns and Antecedents

Leonard C · Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:42 am Post subject: Pronouns and Antecedents

Guys,

This is not a test question but more of an example for discussion to firm up our knowledge of pronouns and antecedents.

Consider the following:

The attorney argued that students who were denied the use of school facilities for political activities had lost their right of free assembly.

Manhattan SC says that the word "their" has no clear antecedent - it can refer to students, facilities or political activities. I find it hard to see how "their" can refer to anything but students except under the very strict restriction that that pronouns must be as close as humanly possible to the noun that they take the place of, and that no other noun should inserted in between the pronoun and its antecedent. However, if this is the way it should be, then I am happy to accept this.

Now consider the following (OG verbal question 102):

Although Napolean's army entered Russia with far more supplies than for any previous campaign, it had provisions for only twenty-four days.

If we operate under the same strict rules as above, can we not say that "it" in the above has no clear antecedent, as it can mean Napolean's army or Russia?

Let me know what you guys think.

BTW, I am not sure if you guys feel the same way, but I notice that the OG is not particularly strict on pronoun antecedents (as per above example) compared to Kaplan, SC1000, etc.

Please share your thoughts.

camitava · Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:53 pm Post subject:

Leonard, I am agree with u, man! I have also faced the same problem. I think we need opinion from others also to get to know the way of tackling this kind of situation.

mayonnai5e · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:42 am Post subject:

The main difference between the two is the context of the sentences. The second sentence makes a comparison:

Although Napolean's army entered Russia with far more supplies than for any previous campaign, it had provisions for only twenty-four days.

Thus in order for the sentence to make sense in the context of a comparison, the "it" must refer to the army - it cannot refer to Russia because the comparison would no longer make sense. Thus the "it" in is understood to be the army and the antecedent does not need to be explicitly stated.

In the first sentence, there is no comparison being made nor any other type of linguistic mechanism that allows a reader to properly infer the antecedent for it.

Leonard C · Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 6:33 pm Post subject:

Guys,

After speaking to a couple of guys and doing some research, I think I have got to the bottom of this issue. However, welcome any further thoughts from the group.

Rule 1: If the context of the sentence makes it clear who or what the pronoun refers to, then that sentence is fine.

Example:

Although Napoleon's army entered Russia with far more supplies than for any previous campaign, it had provisions for only twenty-four days.

Here, "it" clearly refers to "army" if we look at it in the context of the sentence. Hence this sentence is fine.

Although Napoleon's army entered Russia with far more supplies than for any previous campaign, it was a country that simply could not be conquered.

Here, the same "it" in the previous sentence is used to refer to "Russia". How do we know this? Because of the context of the sentence.

The important point to note here that "it" can refer to both "army" and "Russia" depending on the context of the sentence. Some GMAT books will tell you that there is a pronoun antecedent error here because there are several nouns preceding a pronoun, and as a result the pronoun can be used to refer to any one of these preceding nouns. However this is a very simplistic rule and should not be applied (more on this later). In fact, if we follow this strict rule, then there are pronoun antecedent errors everywhere you look - I found three or four in the newspapers in this morning in the space of 10 minutes. So, in short - ignore the rule that there is a pronoun antecedent error if there are several nouns preceding a pronoun - this is wrong and will not give you success on the GMAT.

Rule 2: If the context of the sentence is unclear, then there is a pronoun antecedent error.

Example:

Formulas for cash flow and the ratio of debt to equity do not apply to new small businesses in the same way as they do to established big businesses, because they are growing and are seldom in equilibrium.

Here, the context of the sentence is not as clear. We all know "they" refers to "small businesses" but an uninformed reader may assume it refers to the "formulas". Why? Because if I write "formulas for cash flow and the ratio of debt to equity are growing and are seldom in equilibrium" the clause makes sense. Hence, the antecedent here is not as clear as it can be, and this sentence is wrong.

One more example:

The attorney argued that students who were denied the use of school facilities for political activities had lost their right of free assembly.

Is there an unclear antecedent for "their" here? Manhattan Review says there is, but that is incorrect. There is no unclear antecedent here. "Their" can only refer to "students" - it cannot refer to "school facilities" or "political activities". Why? Ask yourself - can school facilities lose their right to free assembly? No. Can political activities lose their right to free assembly? No. So "students" is the only clear antecedent of "their", and there is no unclear antecedent error here.

In summary: when you see an pronoun which is preceded by a several nouns, substitute the pronoun for each of the preceding nouns. If the sentence only makes sense when one of the nouns is substituted (as in the example above, only "students" make sense) then there is no clear antecedent. If you can substitute multiple nouns for the pronoun and the sentence makes sense in all cases, then there is an antecedent error.

Last few words: I spoke with a colleague of mine who attained a perfect score on the GMAT two years ago and she agreed with my view. Furthermore, she said that if you check the OG and all the questions relating to pronoun errors, you will see that they allow for the meaning of pronouns to be derived from the context of the sentence. In short, ignore the strict pronoun antecedent rules put forward by some prep books. A lot of these books support the use of simplistic rules which may not apply in all cases. They seem to have little respect for the GMAT and believe that if you rote learn a set of simplistic rules, you can score well. I think that we need to have a little more respect for the GMAT than this. For sure, there are a set of grammar rules we must rote learn and follow, but there are instances (such as this) where we have to use our judgment.

erjamit · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:38 am Post subject:

Thank you very much Leonard.

I was also facing the same issue. Your advice makes sense.

Amit

erjamit · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:20 pm Post subject:

Formulas......do not apply ..... as they do......, because they....
--------------C1--------------------..............-----C2------

We have two clauses here lets call them C1 and C2 as shown above.

Formulas is the subject of C1 and they is the subject of C2...so can we infer that whenever we have a similar situation the pronoun of one clause refers to the noun of the other clause.
i.e. They of C2 refers to Formulas of C1.

Also, the answer B for this is like....

Because they...............,formulas..............
-----C1------------.......---C2----

Is that a correct understanding.

I agree for the question we have pronoun reference problem but is the genesis of that the same as I have explained above.

Thanks
Amit

erjamit · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:39 am Post subject:

Congress is debating a bill requiring certain employers provide workers with unpaid leave so as to care for
sick or newbom children.

(A) provide workers with unpaid leave so as to
(B) to provide workers with unpaid leave so as to
(C) provide workers with unpaid leave in order that they
(D) to provide workers with unpaid leave so that they can
(E) provide workers with unpaid leave and

OA is D.

I think D also has a pronoun reference error as per prep books, since they can refer to workers as well as employers. But, as per the context of the sentence they refers to workers.

Thanks
Amit

loki.gmat · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:54 am Post subject:

erjamit - thanx for bringing up this particular question stem. the information in some posts are really valuable.

i think a lot of us face the same problems. sometimes we think a particular answer is incorrect bcoz it has some or other grammatical error.Later we all r surprised when that particular answer option is the OA.

here r my thoughts on how i handle such situations -
*just remember in GMAT we r suppose to mark the best answer option among the five given choices.
*eliminate the options which r abslutely answer.
*if confused between other choices then mark the best option or the option which is least likely to be incorrect n move ahead.

Thanks!

drgmatIL · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:05 pm Post subject: