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Need help on this SC question

by harshalchawla » Wed Jan 30, 2013 3:44 am
Came across this question :

With her archaeologist husband, travels inspired several mystery novels by Agatha Christie; travelers to Egypt can still stay at the Old Cataract Hotel, the model for the hotel in one of Christie's most famous books.
A.) With her archaeologist husband, travels inspired several mystery novels by Agatha Christie
B.) Agatha Christie used her travels with her archaeologist husband to inspire several mystery novels
C.) Because her husband was an archaeologist, Agatha Christie was able to use their travels as inspiration for several of her mystery novels
D.) Together with her archaeologist husband, Agatha Christie was inspired to incorporate their travel into several of her mystery novels
E.) Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband served as inspiration for several of her mystery novels

The correct answer is given as E, but my doubt is on the usage of 'her' on the Possessive antecedent.
Comments will be really appreciated.
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Jan 30, 2013 6:21 am
I don't see any problem with "her", can you please elaborate your doubt ?
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by harshalchawla » Wed Jan 30, 2013 6:34 am
The possessive is acting as an adjective(modifying travels) and not the noun. So, there seems to be no antecedent noun for the pronoun 'her'.
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:05 am
harshalchawla wrote:The possessive is acting as an adjective(modifying travels) and not the noun. So, there seems to be no antecedent noun for the pronoun 'her'.
Possessive Pronouns:

Possessive Pronouns can refer back to ONLY Possessive nouns.

Subject and Object Pronouns can refer back to ONLY Subject and Objects nouns respectively. (NOT Possessive Nouns)

so here "her" is a possessive pronoun, so there is no error in using her over here. For more clarification replace pronoun with its subject and see if you feel it is correct or not.

Agatha Christie's travels with (Agatha Christie's/Agatha Christie) archaeologist husband served as inspiration for several of her mystery novels .

you answer this one and you'll get clarification of your doubt. Hope this helps. Good luck.
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by bpolley00 » Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:46 am
I think the disconnect is the following: with her archaeologist husband is obviously modifying how she is traveling as it is telling us who she is traveling with! You are absolutely right here. However, the pronoun her has to be referring to a person here. It isn't ambiguious, atleast to me, as it is gender related and; thus, can be assumed to referring to Agatha as there are no other babes in the sentence. I choose E here in about 30 seconds and if you would like me to break down each sentence and how I looked at it I will; however, I am really bad with technical explanations.

Hemant, I see an error in your signature. :)It has to deal with an idiom that is how English is taught/spoken in America versus where you probably learned it. If you can't read it a few times and figure it I will just tell you, but there is no fun in that.
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Jan 30, 2013 10:03 am
bpolley00 wrote:I think the disconnect is the following: with her archaeologist husband is obviously modifying how she is traveling as it is telling us who she is traveling with! You are absolutely right here. However, the pronoun her has to be referring to a person here. It isn't ambiguious, atleast to me, as it is gender related and; thus, can be assumed to referring to Agatha as there are no other babes in the sentence. I choose E here in about 30 seconds and if you would like me to break down each sentence and how I looked at it I will; however, I am really bad with technical explanations.

Hemant, I see an error in your signature. :)It has to deal with an idiom that is how English is taught/spoken in America versus where you probably learned it. If you can't read it a few times and figure it I will just tell you, but there is no fun in that.
Hi bpolley,

You see, I'm not a native speaker and frankly, up till now, I was never interested in learning grammatically correct English . So I've imbibe some wrong rules and they comes in my colloquial speaking and writing. Although, now I'm trying to amend my habits. So if you won't mind can you please tell me the mistake in my signature?
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by bpolley00 » Wed Jan 30, 2013 10:16 am
Hemant,

My prior post was in good spirited fun, not meant to come across crass. My apologies if you interpreted it as rude! I make ridiculous mistakes all the time, hopefully you can catch one and get me back.
"I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've done any mistake please bear with me."

The correct way to say that: If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.

In English, you don't really say I done a mistake. The correct way to say that would be I have made a mistake or I have made many mistakes. I hope that helps :).
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Jan 30, 2013 11:17 am
bpolley00 wrote:Hemant,

My prior post was in good spirited fun, not meant to come across crass. My apologies if you interpreted it as rude! I make ridiculous mistakes all the time, hopefully you can catch one and get me back.
"I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've done any mistake please bear with me."

The correct way to say that: If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.

In English, you don't really say I done a mistake. The correct way to say that would be I have made a mistake or I have made many mistakes. I hope that helps :).
Hi Bpolley,

I know you mean well. thanks for the correction.
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by bpolley00 » Wed Jan 30, 2013 11:22 am
mistakes * :)
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Jan 30, 2013 11:25 am
oops :-)
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by harshalchawla » Thu Jan 31, 2013 10:28 am
Thanks guys! It sounded right to me as well but I just got a bit too technical! :)
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