I have trouble understanding the bolded part in the explanationm for A in this problem, please help:

The spatial relationships among the elements of Jan Micker’s 1652 masterwork Bird’s Eye View of Amsterdam, which he painted long before such a vantage point became possible, are much more subtle and intricate than they are in most other seventeenth-century Dutch paintings.

A) which he painted long before such a vantage point became possible, are much more subtle and intricate than they are in

B) painted by the artist long before such a vantage point was to become possible, are much more subtle and intricate than those among


C) which he painted long before the possibility of such a vantage point, are much more subtle and intricate than in


D) painted long before the possibility of such a vantage point, are much more subtle and intricate than they are in


E) painted long before such a vantage point became possible, are much more subtle and intricate than those in



(A) WRONG: The pronoun he cannot logically refer to the possessive Jan Micker’s.The pronoun they must stand for the entire noun phrase “The spatial relationships among the elements of Jan Micker’s 1652 masterwork Bird’s Eye View of Amsterdam.” It is not possible for subject or object pronouns, such as they or them, to stand for only the noun in such a phrase. (By contrast, relative pronouns, such as that or those, if placed in parallel constructions, may stand for such nouns.) The use of this pronoun thus illogically suggests that the relationships in Micker’s painting are also found in most other seventeenth-century Dutch paintings.


I could not understand
1) the difference between the subject and object pronouns here
because relationships is the definition of the subject

can you please explain

This thread is locked because it has been answered in an identical thread elsewhere in this forum..

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