Is this construction correct

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winnerhere: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 231; Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:45 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 5 times

by winnerhere » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:01 am

Although Stella is a good friend of Mary, she is not biased towards her.

She - the subject of main clause - points to Stella the subject of sub ordinate clause.

Her - the objct of main clause - points to Mary the object of sub ordinate clause.

I want to confirm that there is not pronoun ambiguity here and this sentence is a correct construction.Kindly confirm.

Thanks Sai

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:01 am

cans: Legendary Member; Posts: 1309; Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2011 5:34 amFollowed by: 123 members; Location: India; Thanked: 310 times; GMAT Score:750

by cans » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:05 am

correct

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Cans!!

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sameerballani: Legendary Member; Posts: 544; Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:10 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 45 times

by sameerballani » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:18 am

Both part are in structurally parallel. So she plays the same role as in first part ie. the subject(stella) and her plays the same role as in first part ie. object (mary)

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winnerhere: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 231; Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:45 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 5 times

by winnerhere » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:05 am

The smiths avoid the browns because they dislike their children

This construction termed as a wrong one by Manhattan - whats the difference between the construction in my first post and this..if that is parallel and correct which isnt this?

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sameerballani: Legendary Member; Posts: 544; Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:10 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 45 times

by sameerballani » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:27 am

winnerhere wrote:The smiths avoid the browns because they dislike their children

This construction termed as a wrong one by Manhattan - whats the difference between the construction in my first post and this..if that is parallel and correct which isnt this?

The point to understand in this sentence is that BOTH THEY and THEIR could refer to BOTH THE_BROWNS and THE_SMITHS

1) The smiths dislike the children of the brown and this is the reason why The smiths avoid the browns
2) The browns dislike the children of The smiths and this is the reason why The smiths avoid the browns

In above case we have same structue.
think of that as
ALTHOUGH X is Y, but still X is not biased toward Y

Thanks

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winnerhere: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 231; Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:45 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 5 times

by winnerhere » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:40 am

Thanks Sameer.

My real question here is "they" is the subject of sub ordinate clause and smiths is the subject of Main clause. So there should be no confusion atleast with the use of they..isnt it?

if you see my first post in this thread , that sentence is vouched as a correct construction by people just for the same reason..

confused!!!

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sameerballani: Legendary Member; Posts: 544; Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:10 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 45 times

by sameerballani » Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:09 am

winnerhere wrote:
Although Stella is a good friend of Mary, she is not biased towards her. the first pronoun used is SHE, which is a subject pronoun, so it refers the subject of the main clause Stella
The second pronoun used is HER, which is an object pronoun, so it refers to the object of the main clause ie. MARY

The smiths avoid the browns because they dislike their children
In this the first pronoun used is THEY, which acts as subject pronoun, so it refers to THE_SMITHS
but the second pronoun is THEIR,which is a possessive pronoun and would refer possessive nature of THEY that means THE_SMITHS'

SO the sentence will mean
Because THE_SMITH dislike THE_SMITHS' children, THE_SMITH avoid THE_BROWN
This again doesn't makes any sense.

Also note in the earlier case we had two clauses. And in subordinate clause the pronouns generally refers to same case in main clause.

I hope i make some sense.

We can have expert comments for more clarity

Thanks

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winnerhere: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 231; Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:45 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 5 times

by winnerhere » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:00 pm

sameerballani wrote:
Also note in the earlier case we had two clauses. And in subordinate clause the pronouns generally refers to same case in main clause.

Thanks

In the latter case also its two clauses right?..main clause and sub ordinate clause !

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