Pronoun and Independent clauses

[qianruS779]

Hi Instructor,

I want to ask you a question about the sentence structure and pronoun.

Here are some examples:

1) She likes music; Mary will launch her first album this year.
2) She likes music, and Mary will launch her first album this year.
3) Mary likes music; She will launch her first album this year.

These three sentences have the following structures: 1) IC; IC. 2) IC, and IC. 3) the same to 1): IC; IC.
I did several questions related to the examples above in GMAT OG, the OG answer says that in the 1), the compound sentence structure suggests that she and Mary are two separate entities, making it unclear that the pronoun refers to, so it is wrong, however, OG thinks 3) is correct. As for the 2), the explanation is the same, it is not clear if She in the first IC will be Mary in the second IC.

In sum, I learn that the pronoun should be clarified in the first IC like 3). Please correct my understanding.

Thank you very much in advance

Best, Song

[RonPurewal]

i don't know what an "IC" is. so hopefully that's not any sort of important distinction here.

in any case, you are correct about these things:
#1 and #2 imply that 'she' is not Mary,
#3 is fine.

[RonPurewal]

on the other hand, if a sentence starts with a modifier, then it is perfectly acceptable to have a pronoun in that modifier (to describe a noun that doesn't appear until the main sentence).

e.g.,
Although she had set two different alarms, Sheryl still failed to wake up on time.
(this sentence is ok)

[qianruS779]

Hi Ron,

Thank you very much for your wonderful answer, just any case IC means an independent clause. The example "although" you pointed out is constructed by a combination of an Independent clause (IC) and a dependent clause (DC), so the "rule" (between IC and IC) you confirmed me is not applicable.

Best regards, Song

[RonPurewal]

ok.
i still don't either of those terms. but, more importantly, there's no need to use this sort of terminology. it can't really help—and it will quite often get in the way.

if you have to use big words, then you don't understand what you're talking about.
--Douglas Osheroff, 1996 Nobel laureate in physics

examples are on your team. terminology is on the other team.
--Ron Purewal

[aflaamM589]

Ron i am so happy that i found you.

[RonPurewal]

(:

[AsadA969]

Ron i am so happy that i found you.

me too.

[RonPurewal]

ok, enough of that.

[aflaamM589]

Although she had set two different alarms, Sheryl still failed to wake up on time

Sheryl ,although she had set two different alarms, still failed to wake up on time

Sheryl still failed to wake up on time, although she had set two different alarms,

All are correct and all have exactly same meaning.
Right Ron?
================
Further replacing although with whereas won't cut because whereas is not same as although.

Right?

[RonPurewal]

you won't see a well-written sentence like the second one.
in other words, "although" + COMPLETE SENTENCE won't intrude after a subject.

i can't tell you with 100% certainty that it's actually wrong to write the sentence that way, but i'll definitely say with confidence that no GOOD sentence -- so, none of the correct answers on this exam -- will be written like that.

[RonPurewal]

correct, "whereas" would be nonsense here.

i explained the difference between "whereas" and "although" here
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p112922