Require clarifications on Pronoun reference.

[sathishkumarjva9888]

Hi BTG Members,

Can you clarify me regarding one of the sentences provided in Manhattan SC guide.

The board is investigating several executives' compensation packages in order to determine how much may have been improperly awardedto THEM.

As per the book possessive nouns can serve as an antecedent only to possessive nouns.

So the answer has been given as,

The board is investigating the compensation packages of several executives in order to determine how much THESE EXECUTIVES may have been improperly awarded.

But i expected that eliminating possessive form of the noun is sufficient and predicted the answer to be, "The board is investigating the compensation packages of several executives in order to determine how much may have been improperly awardedto THEM."

Can someone explain whether my predication is correct or is it having pronoun ambiguity.

In my view, the pronoun 'THEM' could refer only to executives and not to packages because "how much may have been improperly awardedto PACKAGES" doesnt sound good.

Else, is the pronoun 'THEM' tends to refer to 'The board'.

Awaiting better clarifications.

Regards,
Sathish.

[sam2304]

Pronouns cannot refer to nouns in a prepositional phrase. So 'THEM' in your sentence actually doesn't have an antecedent as far as i know.

[vikram4689]

Sam,
Pronoun can refer to object of prepositional phrase.
e.g. i tried to hold the tail of snake but it bit/stung me

Satish,

the pronoun 'THEM' could refer only to executives and not to packages because "how much may have been improperly awardedto PACKAGES" doesnt sound good.

You are correct, THEM unambiguously refer to executives. THEM cannot refer to packages or board because THEM is 3rd PERSON PLURAL PERSONAL pronoun can refer to HUMANS