Because they are growing and are seldom in equilibrium,

Question

Because  they  are growing and are seldom in equilibrium,  small businesses   are not subject to the same tax laws.

I have a simple question. 
As per the MGMAT SC book "Every pronoun on the GMAT must clearly refer to one and only one antecedent." In the above sentence the pronoun" they" is used before the noun "small businesses".
Meaning the pronoun is used before the antecedent. Can you use a pronoun to refer to a noun which appears after the pronoun is used ?

siyer · Answer

Yes.

Notice the first word after the comma. That's the word being modified.

In our case:
'Because they are growing and are seldom in equilibrium' is modifying 'small businesses'. 
So the pronoun 'they' has a clear antecedent in 'small businesses.'

scheol79 · Answer

I was wondering the same before.

Kudos for both of you guys!

Are there other cases that allow pronoun to precede the word itself?

hirendhanak · Answer

Not entirely relevant to pronoun coming before the subject, we doubt such sentence construction, because it looks awkward, I take SC like quant, where fundamental rules value more then the outlook of sentence.

A sentence starting with relative pronoun "THAT" also look awkward, but it is actually true.

Let me know if you want something more on this.

good luck

BKimball · Answer

This is a really interesting thread! The rule is this: As long as the pronoun clearly refers to a single noun that is actually present in the sentence, it really doesn't matter whether it comes before or after that noun. Perhaps we should start calling the noun to which the pronoun refers the "antecedent or postcedent."

Also: hirendhanak is absolutely right here. No matter how weird a sentence might look, it's critical that you really push yourself to find a clear grammatical rule that the sentence violates before you cross it out.

scheol79 · Answer

Thank you Kimball and Hirendhanak.

I did come across a question with a right answer starting with that.

I agree with you Hirendhanak that the best way is to simply memorize the rules and practice.

crick20002002 · Answer

I just want to add a small comment on pronoun ambiguity.

GMAT allows pronoun ambiguity if 
1) The context of the pronoun is clear
2) None of the choices replaces the ambiguous pronoun with corresponding noun - indicating that pronoun ambiguity is not being tested.

Crick

immaculatesahai · Answer

Thnks Crick. Found this thread really helpful. Clarified some of the doubts i had.

Because they are growing and are seldom in equilibrium,

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards