Sentence Correction

RumpelThickSkin wrote:THE SUBJECT right after the is Anders Celsius's orginal thermometer not Ander Celsius so how can we use HIS after the ; i.e. his deadth? Doesn't Anders Celsius need to be explictly mentioned as the SUBJECT? His to me here refers to Anders Celsius's thermometer and NOT Anders Celsius! Would be grateful for explanations on this!

ever since i joined this company i have been horrified to see this "rule" mentioned in our materials. this post, along with many, many others, is a prime illustration of why.
basically:

* this "rule" has so far been necessary in a grand total of 0 official problems.

* for every one student who seems to understand the "rule" thoroughly, there are several, such as the poster here, who are confused by it.

we are finally purging this rule completely from the upcoming editions of our verbal materials, but i would imagine that we will continue to have to do this sort of damage control for some time.

the "rule" is:
* POSSESSIVE NOUN with NON-POSSESSIVE PRONOUN is NOT OK.
BUT
ALL OTHER COMBINATIONS are ok.
i.e.
possessive noun with possessive pronoun is ok.
non-possessive noun with non-possessive pronoun is ok.
non-possessive noun with possessive pronoun is ok.

that's the complete version of the rule -- which, not surprisingly, tends to confuse a lot more than it tends to enlighten. also, although it may help you eliminate the odd answer choice here and there, it has NEVER actually been required to solve an official problem.
so:
ONLY use this "rule" if you understand it 100.0000%. if there is absolutely any confusion at all, just ignore this rule and pretend that you have never seen it.

what is perhaps most interesting is that gmac itself is starting to distance itself from this rule.
if you look at problem #86 in the FIRST edition verbal supplement (the purple book), the answer key declares, very explicitly, that the pronoun "grammatically ... CANNOT" refer to the possessive noun.
on the other hand, if you open your second edition verbal review (the blue one) to #81, you will find that the explanation has been completely revised -- completely removing all traces of these former bold claims and replacing them, eyes darting nervously around the room, with "grammatically its referent is somewhat unclear".
this is pretty clear evidence that even gmac doesn't believe in the sanctity of this rule anymore, although to date they have not written any problems that violate it.

Received a PM asking me to respond. Ron has already discussed the main issue above but just want to add something about the specific problem above.

<Anders Celsius'> is a possessive noun. "thermometer" is a regular (non-possessive) noun.

The pronoun "his" is a possessive pronoun.

as Ron said, it is okay to refer to a possessive noun with a possessive pronoun.

Just want to make sure you all do know what a possessive noun is.

ramprakaashk wrote:Hi Ron and Stacey,

Your explanation is very useful. Can you please give some example for all of the 4 negative and positive scenarios and we can understan still better and clearer..

the "rule" is:
* POSSESSIVE NOUN with NON-POSSESSIVE PRONOUN is NOT OK.
BUT
ALL OTHER COMBINATIONS are ok.
i.e.
possessive noun with possessive pronoun is ok.
non-possessive noun with non-possessive pronoun is ok.
non-possessive noun with possessive pronoun is ok.

ok, but, first, i'm going to reiterate my warning above:

This is one of the least important rules in all of SC.

ONLY use this "rule" if you understand it 100.0000%. if there is absolutely any confusion at all, just ignore this rule and pretend that you have never seen it.

i figure the warning is worth repeating, since the fact that you're asking this question implies that you don't understand the rule 100.000000%. just remember -- this "rule" is about a thousand times more likely to cause confusion than it is to actually help you solve a problem. but, ok, now that you've seen this disclaimer -- if you want to jump into this particular snake pit, here you go:
possessive
non-possessive

The President's advisors told him to avoid discussing the topic.
--> NOT OK according to this rule

The President was told by his advisors to avoid discussing the topic.
--> OK

The President, whose advisors had told him not to discuss the topic, kept silent.
--> OK

The President's advisors told his staff not to discuss the topic.
--> OK