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Possessive pronoun

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Possessive pronoun

by sanp_l » Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:43 am
The player's helmets need to be repainted so that they will be ready to be used for practice on Sunday.

It is considered a correct sentence.
can anyone explain how does the pronoun "they" refer back correctly to the possessive Noun "Player's"?

I feel it should be as follows to be correct:

The player's helmets need to be repainted so that the helmets will be ready to be used for practice on Sunday.
Sandy
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by Nermal » Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:03 am
The subject of the sentence is "helmets" which is plural. It does not matter whether they are "his", "her" or even the helmets of a player.
The subject is plural, the pronoun is just a way of differently expressing a genitive "helmets of a player" or "player's helmets".

The "player's helmets" refers to several helmets of just one player; "player's" is singular.

Since there is only one plural noun in the sentence, "they" clearly refers to "helmets" that you therefore don't have to mention again.
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