MGMAT SC 4th Edition -Pronouns In Action Problem

[soaringAlone]

The Smiths avoid the Browns because they dislike their children.

Solution says:The original sentence is ambiguous. The antecedent of they could be the Smiths or the Browns.Likewise, the antecedent of their could be the Smiths or the Browns.

My question is on the basis of this rule that 'A pronoun in subject position in one clause may often be presumed to refer to the subject of a parallel clause' wouldn't they clearly refers to Smiths ?

[tim]

i agree with you. what about "their" though? :)

[sid090188]

Hi,

A doubt regarding the sentence.If they refers to Smiths then their logically has to refer to Browns because if their refers to Smiths' then the sentence is meaningless.

The Smiths' avoid the Browns' because they (Smiths') dislike their(Smiths') children.Illogical.IF the Smiths' dislike their children why should they avoid the Browns'.

Can you please explain.

[jnelson0612]

Hi,

A doubt regarding the sentence.If they refers to Smiths then their logically has to refer to Browns because if their refers to Smiths' then the sentence is meaningless.

The Smiths' avoid the Browns' because they (Smiths') dislike their(Smiths') children.Illogical.IF the Smiths' dislike their children why should they avoid the Browns'.

Can you please explain.

Okay, let's look at this again:
"The Smiths avoid the Browns because they dislike their children."

Got it! There is a rule on the GMAT about this. If I use either a singular pronoun (it or its) or a plural pronoun (they, them, their) that pronoun must continue to refer to THE SAME antecedent, even if it uses different forms. So if I use an "it" and then an "its", the "its" must continue to refer to whatever noun the "it" referred to. The same goes with all the plural pronouns.

Here, once I say that "they" refers to the Smiths then every subsequent plural pronoun (whether "they", "them", or "their") must refer to the Smiths. I cannot change antecedent references.

Because of this rule, if "they" refers to the Smiths then "their" must refer to the Smiths. That does set up the illogical construction you describe. As a result, we have a real problem in this sentence with the pronoun references.

Does this help? Let us know if you need further clarification.