The ladder must be placed against the guardrail firmly or

Hi all,
The ladder must be placed against the guardrail firmly or else otherwise it will fall.



(A) or else otherwise it will fall: Incorrect. “or else” and “otherwise” mean the same thing. Usage of both the terms leads to redundancy error in the sentence.
(B) so as not to fall: Incorrect. Usage of idiom “so as to” is not proper here. Idiom “so as to” means “in order to”. This idiom is used to denote reason or the purpose of the action. However, this sentence talks about the contrary situation.
(C) or else they fall: Incorrect. Plural “they” has been used to refer to singular “ladder”.
(D) or else it will fall: Incorrect. Generally, the phrase “or else” is used to suggest an alternative.
(E) or it will fall: Correct.

Now, there is no ambiguity about the pronoun “it” in the correct answer choice. “it” grammatically and logically refers to “ladder” only. “The ladder” is in the subject position of the first clause so is “it” in the second clause. So grammatically “it” will refer to the subject of the preceding clause. Also, the only other noun preceding “it” is “the guardrail”. It is illogical to say that “guardrail” will fall because the sentence clearly mentions that “the ladder” is required to be put firmly. So the object that is unstable is the ladder. Hence, pronoun “it” has no ambiguity in this sentence.



1. A pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent.
2. A pronoun must refer to a LOGICAL antecedent.

Thanks.
Shraddha