Question MGMAT post

[gmatalongthewatchtower]

This is a question for Ron Purewal's post:

og-verbal-review-sc-19-t878.html


Unfortunately, the entire forum has been locked. I couldnt reply to that particular thread.

this is correct in this instance, but this is not a general rule.

the general rule is that the pronoun, by default, refers to the noun that plays the same grammatical role in its own clause. so:
* if the pronoun is a subject (as is the case here), then it refers by default to the subject of the other clause.
* if the pronoun is a direct object, then it refers by default to the direct object of the other clause. (i.e., "take the pizza out of the box and put it on the table" --> "it" refers to "pizza" since both are direct objects)

In the last example, why is it that "it" refers to antecedent Pizza and not Box ? I am not sure. Can you please help?

Thanks
Voodoo

[gmatalongthewatchtower]

MGMAT staff - Can you please reply to this thread ? I am awaiting an answer for more than two weeks now.

Thanks
Voodoo Child

[messi10]

Hi,

If you simply look at context of the sentence, "it" clearly refers to the pizza.

However, even grammatically, if you break the sentence into two parts separated by the parallel marker "and":

take (verb) the pizza (noun - subject) out of the box (object of prepositional phrase)

and -parallel marker

put (verb) it (pronoun - subject) on the table (object of prepositional phrase)

So clearly, the pronoun "it" refers to the pizza and not the box.

Hope this helps