Hi All,
After the famine that ravaged Somalia at the end of last century, it received huge sums of money from the World Bank, using it to get back on the road to recovery.
As discussed already,
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because
single “it” has been used to refer to
plural “sums of money”. Also in Choice B, the phrase
“road of recovery” is not idiomatic. Choice D changes the meaning of the sentence. It now suggests that that Somalia used the huge sums of money given by the World Bank only at the end of last century. The sentence fails to convey the Somalia was actually struck by famine at the end of the last century. It then received the money and used it to recover from the disaster.
Choice E is indeed the correct answer that reads: Somalia used the huge sums of money it received from the World Bank after the famine ravaged it at the end of the last century, to get back on the road to recovery.
There is
no ambiguity in the reference of the second “it”, a pronoun. It is only logical for that pronoun to refer to Somalis even if there are a few more nouns before it.
Whenever we use a pronoun in a sentence, we must make sure of
two things.
1.
A pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent. On this basis only, we eliminated choices A, B, and C because single “it” cannot refer to plural “sums of money”.
2.
A pronoun must have a logical antecedent. This rule is at play in the correct answer choice E.
Now, there are three nouns before the second it, famine, World Bank, and Somalia. It will be absolutely illogical to say that famine ravaged famine. So famine is out.
Again, it is illogical to say that the famine ravaged World Bank. Famine is natural disaster that affects a particular geographical area. It cannot affect an organization in particular. Also, if World Bank was struck by famine, why would it give huge sums of money to Somalia? Hence, logically “it” cannot refer to World Bank.
So, we are left only with Somalia which indeed is the only logical antecedent of the second “it” and clearly communicated the meaning of the sentence. There is no pronoun ambiguity in this choice.
1. A pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent.
2. A pronoun must have a logical antecedent.
3. Be wary if the choices that change the meaning of the sentence.
Thanks.
Shraddha