Page 73,Pronoun Problem set (chapter 5) in MGMAT SC strategy guide 4th Edition.
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Question 7) ..
The player's helmets need to be repainted before they are used in sunday's game-

The explanation says that -- they unmabigously refers to helmets. One of the reason provided is helmets is closer to they.

Question 8)

We finally chose the coffee table towards the back of the store,which we thought would complement our living room furniture.


After correction, the sentence becomes -

We finally chose the coffee table towards the back of the store,because we thought that this table would complement our living room furniture.

The explanation says that we use "this table" instead of "it" to avoid ambiguity.

My question is - if infact "it" were used here ,as per the rule in question 7(pronoun refers to the nearest antecdent i.e the store) there is no ambiguity

"it " refers to the store, which is wrong.



Hence,we should actually use "this table" always!.

So ,can we generalize the rule that the pronoun always refers to nearly possible antecedant?.


Thanks,
Ratheesh.

No, you can't! There is no proximity rule for pronouns and antecedents. That is, the nearest noun doesn't automatically win antecedent status!

While it's true that helmets is closer to they than players', I don't think that should be given as a reason that #7 is correct. In my view, the reasons are (1) players' is a possessive noun, which acts more like a modifier than a noun, so it can't be the antecedent of they and (2) it is illogical that players would be repainted or used in Sunday's game.


I actually disagree that it refers better to the store. The coffee table is part of the core of the sentence: We chose the coffee table (subject-verb-object). However, the store is just the object of a preposition, embedded deep in a modifier of a modifier of table: (toward the back) (of the store).

Generally, the subject is the "strongest" noun in a sentence, followed by the object, with other nouns having lower rank. The stronger the noun, the better it is as an antecedent. But this is not really a RULE, just a generalization. Exception: if a pronoun is used within a modifier, look for the antecedent within the same modifying phrase, or look to the modified noun.

Thus, the use of it could be OK, but there's enough reason to doubt the antecedent that we have better clarity with this table.

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Emily Sledge
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT