btrg wrote
Quote:
Will "it" (underlined abv) refer to the preceeding noun, if any, like heart in this case ? Becoz i want to confirm my understanding that the modifiers seperated by commas do not modify the actual statement i.e Coronary angiography uses x-rays to observe cardiac function.
The basic tenet is that a pronoun should refer back to an eligible noun, whether is the near one or the farther one. Eligible means something that makes normal sense, not inappropriate meaning. The tenet also says that these pronouns normally fall back on the subject as the first choice but not necessarily. Supposing in this case, if the sentence happened to be, let us say, 'The doctor clarified that CA involves pumping a dye into the heart and therefore it is used selectively', then it cannot refer to the Doctor since we do not use 'it' for a Doctor.
Nor can we use it to refer to the disease or the heart, because neither a disease nor a heart can ever use x-rays. CA-only uses x-rays.
However, to your query about ' modifiers separated by commas' let me say that it should not confuse between a modifier and a pronoun. 'Because it uses x-rays to observe cardiac function' is a subordinate clause and not a modifier. The 'it' you have underlined is not a relative pronoun either such as 'comma+ which' or ' that', which have an obligation to refer to the nearest
Noun. That is the reason they are called relative pronouns.
You might also note that modifiers separated by comma +verb+ing (Ex: Tom always strived hard to some be admitted to the Wharton, dreaming about the mouth-watering placements he could get in the campus interviews.) modify the entire statement before which involves a doer and the doer's action.
You may perhaps like to clarify what you wish to convey by your idea that the modifiers separated by commas do not modify the actual statement.
Thanks.