Sentence Correction

Hi all,



This doubt is regarding Pronoun Reference:

We know that a pronoun has to refer to ONE & ONLY ONE antecedent and any ambiguity in this regard means a wrong answer.
For eg :
Josie plays with Tina daily so that she remains fit ---
This is wrong because "She" seems to be referring to the closest noun Tina whereas it can refer to both of them. This is understood.

In this ex., both the subjects could be logically used to replace "She". But what if the former noun cannot be LOGICALLY used ?!?!


For ex :
Workers manufacture cars so that they can earn money.
Now here the closest noun to "they" is "cars" but we know "cars" CANNOT make "money". So "they" has to logically refer to "workers" only. So in this case, is this choice correct or is it still ambiguos !!?!

What if the sentence was:
Cars are manufactured by workers so that they can make more money.
(Please ignore the passiveness of the sentence)
Here the closest noun is "Workers" and "they" is logically referring to it too. But technically, since "cars" and "workers" are both plural, it can refer to both of them. In this case, is this also ambiguos or is the answer correctly framed !!?!?

Lastly: What if the sentence was:
Each car is manufactured by workers so that they can make money.
Now here, "car" is singular while "workers" are plural. Now since "they" is plural .... Does this automatically mean that "they" refers to "workers".
What if the nouns were flipped to say:
Workers manufacture a car so that they can make money.
Here, here, "car" is singular while "workers" are plural. So even though "they" is plural, it is closest to "car" .... Does this make the choice wrong or will here too the sentence automatically mean that "they" refers to "workers".

Would really appreciate a quick response ..... Thanks a lot in advance .....

If any of the expert instructors here such as Ron & Stacey have already answered a similiar query, then i would be obiliged if someone could pl give me the link. I have tried to find it but in this vast ocean of topics, haven't been successful!!!
.....The original person was someone else,He posted this on Manhattan fourm,But he didn't get answer so do I.
Please demigods answer this question seriously On time too........

You are right with your statement that 1 pronoun must relate to 1 noun. Even despite logical reasoning, workers and cars in the same sentence cannot have a 'they.' Even though cars do not make money, in theory it creates confusion. What if the cars were appreciating in value? The other examples where you switching to a singular car, you can use they because it refers to the workers.

Hope this helps.

Hi Jim

Can you quote atlest one OG question where the sentence has two noun referents and where logically only one stands as far as the meaning is concerned but still the answer is incorrect.

That would really be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Jim@StratusPrep wrote:You are right with your statement that 1 pronoun must relate to 1 noun. Even despite logical reasoning, workers and cars in the same sentence cannot have a 'they.' Even though cars do not make money, in theory it creates confusion. What if the cars were appreciating in value? The other examples where you switching to a singular car, you can use they because it refers to the workers.

Hope this helps.