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pronoun problem

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pronoun problem

by manhhiep2509 » Wed Jan 08, 2014 7:08 pm
Hello.

The below sentence is similar to question 83 in verbal review 2.

"the companies replace living allowance with paychecks of their employees, for those of them assigned to other companies."

Please explain what is wrong with "for those of them".

Thank you
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by asingh203 » Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:01 am
I think 'those' is ambiguous. This pronoun can refer to companies, paychecks or employees.
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Jan 11, 2014 4:11 am
manhhiep2509 wrote:Hello.

The below sentence is similar to question 83 in verbal review 2.

"the companies replace living allowance with paychecks of their employees, for those of them assigned to other companies."

Please explain what is wrong with "for those of them".

Thank you
Aside from the ambiguity issue:

Every pronoun has a referent: the noun being replaced by the pronoun.
Within the context of a single clause, two different pronouns cannot have the same referent.
Hence, in the sentence above, those and them cannot both serve to refer to employees.
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