This is my car- where is the antecedent?

[mithunshah]

This is my car.
These are my cars.
Her hair is beautiful.

Are these sentences correct? If so, where is the antecedent for This, These and Her?

Thanks

[jnelson0612]

This is my car.
These are my cars.
Her hair is beautiful.

Are these sentences correct? If so, where is the antecedent for This, These and Her?

Thanks

Excellent question! I was also unsure, so I went to www.dictionary.com. In the example you cite, "this" IS in fact a pronoun, indicating which car is my car. Thus, your antecedent is understood to be the car. The same situation applies with "these".

In the case of "her", "her" is functioning somewhat as an adjective, even though it is technically a pronoun. Whose hair is beautiful? Her hair is beautiful. However, for this to make sense you would have to have immediately been talking about the particular person "her" refers to. It makes no sense to walk up to someone and say "her hair is beautiful". But if you first said "Angelina Jolie is hot." and then followed that sentence with "her hair is beautiful", then that is sensible. In this case, the antecedent is implied through the earlier sentence or context.

[mithunshah]

Jamie, Thanks. I agree (that Angelina Jolie is hot!).As for the explanation, I am not sure if I completely understand the explanation.
- In the This/These examples, you mention that it is understood that the car/cars is the antecedent. Can the object of the sentence be the antecedent?

-'Her hair is beautiful'- This would be an incorrect sentence in the GMAT, right? Because, her refers to a antecedent in the earlier sentence and in the GMAT SC, they usually only provide one sentence.

[tim]

you would never see the first examples on the GMAT, because they require some additional context, eg. someone pointing to the car(s). you're right that the GMAT never gives two sentences to analyze, but they often employ a semicolon for precisely this purpose:

"Angelina Jolie is hot; her hair is beautiful."