ksp wrote:
KapTeacherEli wrote:
In the second problem, 'new maritime code' is the subject of the sentence, and 'the basis' is part of the predicate. Since 'it' in the second half of the sentence is the subject of a new clause, it is clear that 'it' was intended to reproduce the first subject.
In the first case you cited, 'course of action' and 'incipient trouble' are BOTH part of the predicate of the sentence. Since neither of them are a subject, the fact that 'it' is the subject of the dependent clause 'it has worked in the past' does not let us associate the pronoun with a particular antecedent, so the sentence is ambigious.
Hope this helps!
Eli
Hi Eli,
This absolutely helps. Great ! Can you please extend this a little bit with a little more cases. What if the pronoun appears in the part of the predicate of the clause 2, where should we look for the antecedent. Only this possibility struck to me. If there were other possibilities also please do explain.
nd also with respect to the above problem,
Is it perfect to say that, the pronoun in the subject of the other clause of the sentence clearly refers only to the subject in the clause 1. If the pronoun and the antecedent (i.e. subject of clause 1) do not match up correctly then there is a pronoun error ). Am i getting it right. ?
Thanks in advance !
Unforutnately, it's hard to give generalizations; as with many things in English, the answer is context-dependent. However, it's not true that it is automatically wrong for a pronoun in the predicate to refer to a noun that was a subject, or vice versa. This rule is only useful for resolving pronoun ambiguity. If a pronoun that is a subject is logically intended to replace a noun in a predicate, but could also grammatically replace the predicate's subject, then the meaning is wrong.
Correct:
When a farm plane air-drops pesticides, they spread farther than when distributed by other means.
Incorrect:
When farm planes air-drop pesticides, they spread farther than when distributed by other means.