SC : Pronouns

[mangipudi]

I've rephrased the answer of an OG question below.

X will sometimes fail to detect Y when IT exists and will indicate that IT exists when IT does not.

1. In the sentence above does 'IT' unambiguously refer to Y or can it also also refer to X ?

2. If a sentence is like this : clause1 ,<conjunction> clause2. The pronoun in clause2 refers to the subject of clause1. Is this correct ?

thx ..

[selva.e]

Take a look @ this

pronoun-problems-t3712.html

[esledge]

I've rephrased the answer of an OG question below.

X will sometimes fail to detect Y when IT exists and will indicate that IT exists when IT does not.

1. In the sentence above does 'IT' unambiguously refer to Y or can it also also refer to X ?

All three occurances of IT unambiguously refer to Y. If the prepositional phrase "when..." were meant to modify the noun X, it would have to touch X. For example:

X, when it exists, will sometimes fail to detect Y...
When it exists, X will sometimes fail to detect Y...

The second occurance of IT is in the following structure: "X ...will indicate that IT exists..." If this IT were meant to refer to X, the sentence would read "X ....will indicate that itself exists..." (a bit awkward) or "X...will indicate that X exists..." (less awkward).

The third occurance is in a parallel structure with the first: "When IT exists...when IT does not." Therefore, same antecedent.

The link above addresses your second question (thanks selva.e). Let us know if you have follow-up questions!

[ganile]

I've rephrased the answer of an OG question below.

X will sometimes fail to detect Y when IT exists and will indicate that IT exists when IT does not.

1. In the sentence above does 'IT' unambiguously refer to Y or can it also also refer to X ?

All three occurances of IT unambiguously refer to Y. If the prepositional phrase "when..." were meant to modify the noun X, it would have to touch X. For example:

X, when it exists, will sometimes fail to detect Y...
When it exists, X will sometimes fail to detect Y...

The second occurance of IT is in the following structure: "X ...will indicate that IT exists..." If this IT were meant to refer to X, the sentence would read "X ....will indicate that itself exists..." (a bit awkward) or "X...will indicate that X exists..." (less awkward).

The third occurance is in a parallel structure with the first: "When IT exists...when IT does not." Therefore, same antecedent.

The link above addresses your second question (thanks selva.e). Let us know if you have follow-up questions!

Hi Emily,

I am bit confused...In post below
http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post29810.html#p29810

Ron said that"when + PAST PARTICIPLE", then this automatically applies to the SUBJECT of the clause to which it's attached.

So In sentence "X will sometimes fail to detect Y when IT exists "
Should n't when it exists modify X rather than Y?

[RonPurewal]

I am bit confused...In post below
http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post29810.html#p29810

Ron said that"when + PAST PARTICIPLE", then this automatically applies to the SUBJECT of the clause to which it's attached.

So In sentence "X will sometimes fail to detect Y when IT exists "
Should n't when it exists modify X rather than Y?

that post is irrelevant to this thread, as there are no past participles (like "submerged", in that example) anywhere in the current problem.

if you're not sure what a past participle is, please use google (or another search engine); you'll find hundreds of sites that explain it in much more detail than we could here. thanks.