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Is "which" in this sentence ambiguous?

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rx_11
 Post subject: Is "which" in this sentence ambiguous?
 Post Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 12:51 am 
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Students


Posts: 52
Hi, instructors,

I have two sentenses and need your helps.

1. The particle, appears as X spot on the sun's surface, which has never been seen on the sun's equator.

Is the "which" in this sentense clear? Would it ambiguously refer to "surface", not the "spot"? I don't know whether the pronoun is ambiguous or not if we insert such a short modifier.

Moreover, if we change the sentense to:

2.The particles, appear as X spots on the sun's surface, which have never been seen on the sun's equator.

Is the "which" in this sentence may ambiguously refer to the "surface"? Some people say it is clear because the "have" is followed so that "which" can only refer to "spots", not the "surface". Is that true?
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ChrisB
 Post subject: Re: Is "which" in this sentence ambiguous?
 Post Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 4:53 pm 
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ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 91
Hi,

I'm not sure where you found this sentence so please share your source. Either way the ",which" is a signal of a noun modifier. Whenever you see the relative pronoun "which" (or that, who, whose, etc. for that matter) you need to recognize that the ", which" introduces a phrase that modifies that noun preceding the comma. In this case the phrase modifies "surface" and states that the sun's surface has never been seen on the sun's equator. Clearly that is incorrect.

Thanks,
Chris

_________________
Chris Brusznicki
MGMAT Instructor
Chicago, IL
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