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noboru
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pronoun reference 26 Jun 2010, 09:29
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Sorry for this basic question:

Imagine this sentence:

A machine searching for extraterrestrial life, will not find it.

I have problems with the pronoun "it": how I know to which does "it" refer to? to the subject machine? to the object??

Please clarify.

Thanks in advance.



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nusmavrik
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pronoun reference 27 Jun 2010, 03:25
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noboru
IMO : You can't. "it" is ambiguous. Since "searching" is not a verb its a gerund.

"find" is a verb and "it" is in object position. "machine" and "extraterrestrial life" are both singular which causes confusion.

Where did you see such a sentence ?

noboru
Sorry for this basic question:

Imagine this sentence:

A machine searching for extraterrestrial life, will not find it.

I have problems with the pronoun "it": how I know to which does "it" refer to? to the subject machine? to the object??

Please clarify.

Thanks in advance.
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noboru
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pronoun reference 27 Jun 2010, 03:32
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nusmavrik
noboru
IMO : You can't. "it" is ambiguous. Since "searching" is not a verb its a gerund.

"find" is a verb and "it" is in object position. "machine" and "extraterrestrial life" are both singular which causes confusion.

Where did you see such a sentence ?

noboru
Sorry for this basic question:

Imagine this sentence:

A machine searching for extraterrestrial life, will not find it.

I have problems with the pronoun "it": how I know to which does "it" refer to? to the subject machine? to the object??

Please clarify.

Thanks in advance.
Show more

The sentence is part of a CR passage, and when I saw it, I thought: "mmm...if this were a SC, there would be ambiguity??"
Any more thoughts?
Thanks,
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pronoun reference 27 Jun 2010, 06:19
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Yes but make a wholesome call - not just based on pronoun ambiguity. If gmat has to muddy the correct answer - it will make it unattractive - Not the girl in the baywatch :-D

If this sentence is in CR then I will assume that "it" is referring to extraterrestrial life.
noboru


The sentence is part of a CR passage, and when I saw it, I thought: "mmm...if this were a SC, there would be ambiguity??"
Any more thoughts?
Thanks,
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pronoun reference 27 Jun 2010, 06:46
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noboru
Sorry for this basic question:

Imagine this sentence:

A machine searching for extraterrestrial life, will not find it.

I have problems with the pronoun "it": how I know to which does "it" refer to? to the subject machine? to the object??

Please clarify.

Thanks in advance.
Show more

It refers to "extraterrestrial life". The use of pronoun is ambiguous only if it creates two logical sentences by refering to two or more antecedents.
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pronoun reference 27 Jun 2010, 21:21
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to clarify, your sentence really doesn't make sense unless it [your sentence] is corrected by either the following:

This machine, searching for extraterrestrial life, will not find it.

In this example, i made the present participle + prepositional phrase modifier (searching for ET life) a nonessential (nonrestrictive) modifer. To do this, i need to specific the machine with the word This. [Note also that searching is NOT a gerund in this example; searching is serving as an adjective (present participle to be exact) that modifies machine.]

Or, you can correct the sentence by removing the comma:

A machine searching for extraterrestrial life will not find it.

It can be referred to machine or to life... ask the question: does it make sense to say, a machine will not find this machine? sounds quite funny, but still, it can be ambiguous even if it's quite obvious that the it should refer to life.

hope that helps



Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
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